Saturday Poetry Corner: Shiloh: A Requiem (April 1862)

 

 

 "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love
of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
(Romans 8:37-39)

 

Replica of Shiloh Church
Shiloh National Military Park
Shiloh, Hardin County, Tennessee
Corinth, Alcorn County, Mississippi
Image courtesy/Wikimedia Commons
 

 

Skimming lightly, wheeling still,

The swallows fly low

Over the field in clouded days,

The forest-field of Shiloh-

Over the field where April rain

Solaced the parched ones in pain 

Through the pause of night

That followed the Sunday fight

Around the church of Shiloh-

The church so lone, the log-built one,

That echoed to many a parting groan 

And natural prayer.

Of dying foemen mingled there-

Foemen at morn, but friends at eve-

Fame or country least their care: 

What like a bullet can undeceive!

But now they lie low,

While over them the swallows skim,

And all is hushed at Shiloh. 

 

Shiloh: A Requiem (April 1862)
(1866)
Herman Melville
(1819-1891)
American Renaissance writer and poet

 

The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing 
was a major battle in the American Civil War fought on April 6-7, 1862.