Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War

by Herman Melville

The shock of ships, the jar of walls,

The rush through thick and thin—

The flaring fire-rafts, glare and gloom—

Eddies, and shells that spin—

The boom-chain burst, the hulks dislodged,

The jam of gun-boats driven,

Or fired, or sunk—made up a war

Like Michael’s waged with leven.

The manned Varuna stemmed and quelled

The odds which hard beset;