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The Fall Of Richmond
By Herman Melville

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	The tidings received in the Northern Metropolis.
	(April, 1865.)



	What mean these peals from every tower,
	  And crowds like seas that sway?
	The cannon reply; they speak the heart
	  Of the People impassioned, and say—
	A city in flags for a city in flames,
	  Richmond goes Babylon's way—




	O weary years and woeful wars,
	  And armies in the grave;
	But hearts unquelled at last deter
	The helmed dilated Lucifer—
	  Honor to Grant the brave,
	Whose three stars now like Orion's rise
	  When wreck is on the wave—




	Well that the faith we firmly kept,
	  And never our aim forswore
	For the Terrors that trooped from each recess
	When fainting we fought in the Wilderness,
	  And Hell made loud hurrah;
	But God is in Heaven, and Grant in the Town,
	  And Right through might is Law—



 
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