Poetry Archives

A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

Herman Melville

Wandering late by morning seas
  When my heart with pain was low—
Hate the censor pelted me—
  Deject I saw my shadow go.

In elf-caprice of bitter tone
I too would pelt the pelted one:
At my shadow I cast a stone.

When lo, upon that sun-lit ground
  I saw the quivering phantom take
The likeness of St. Stephen crowned:
  Then did self-reverence awake.

Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From John Marr and Other Poems | 1922

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Tags, sometimes called “folksonomies,” are words that describe or categorize a poem, like “20th century modernism” or “Italian sonnet”. Tags can help you find poems that have something in common, based on how other people classify them.

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