Clarel :: :: University of Virginia Library

Clarel

a poem and pilgrimage in the Holy Land

Melville, Herman (1819-1891)

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The Spahi, who absorbed had been
By the true acting, turned amain,
And letting go the mental strain,
Vented a resonant, “Bismillah!”
Strange answering which pealed from on high—
“Dies irœ, dies illa!”