| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
| |
| 387. An Uninscribed Monument on One of the Battle-Fields of the Wilderness |
| | | By Herman Melville |
| |
| |
| SILENCE and Solitude may hint | |
| (Whose home is in yon piny wood) | |
| What I, though tableted, could never tell— | |
| The din which here befell, | |
| And striving of the multitude. | 5 |
| The iron cones and spheres of death | |
| Set round me in their rust,— | |
| These, too, if just, | |
| Shall speak with more than animated breath. | |
| Thou who beholdest, if thy thought, | 10 |
| Not narrowed down to personal cheer, | |
| Take in the import of the quiet here— | |
| The after-quiet—the calm full fraught; | |
| Thou too wilt silent stand,— | |
| Silent as I, and lonesome as the land. | 15 |
| |
|
|
|
