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Clarel

a poem and pilgrimage in the Holy Land
Melville, Herman (1819-1891)

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CLAREL
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VOL. I.
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PART I. JERUSALEM.
  
I. THE HOSTEL.
 2. 
II. ABDON.
 3. 
III. THE SEPULCHRE.
 4. 
IV. OF THE CRUSADERS.
 5. 
V. CLAREL.
 6. 
VI. TRIBES AND SECTS.
 7. 
VII. BEYOND THE WALLS.
 8. 
VIII. THE VOTARY.
 9. 
IX. SAINT AND STUDENT.
 10. 
X. RAMBLES.
 11. 
XI. LOWER GIHON.
 12. 
XII. CELIO.
 13. 
XIII. THE ARCH.
 14. 
XIV. IN THE GLEN.
 15. 
XV. UNDER THE MINARET.
 16. 
XVI. THE WALL OF WAIL.
 17. 
XVII. NATHAN.
 18. 
XVIII. NIGHT.
 19. 
XIX. THE FULFILMENT.
 20. 
XX. VALE OF ASHES.
 21. 
XXI. BY-PLACES.
 22. 
XXII. HERMITAGE.
 23. 
XXIII. THE CLOSE.
 24. 
XXIV. THE GIBE.
 25. 
XXV. HUTS.
 26. 
XXVI. THE GATE OF ZION.
 27. 
XXVII. MATRON AND MAID.
 28. 
XXVIII. TOMB AND FOUNTAIN.
 29. 
XXIX. THE RECLUSE.
 30. 
XXX. THE SITE OF THE PASSION.
 31. 
XXXI. ROLFE.
 32. 
XXXII. OF RAMA.
 33. 
XXXIII. BY THE STONE.
 34. 
XXXIV. THEY TARRY.
 35. 
XXXV. ARCULF AND ADAMNAN.
 36. 
XXXVI. THE TOWER.
 37. 
XXXVII. A SKETCH.
 38. 
XXXVIII. THE SPARROW.
 39. 
XXXIX. CLAREL AND RUTH.
 40. 
XL. THE MOUNDS.
 41. 
XLI. ON THE WALL.
 42. 
XLII. TIDINGS.
 43. 
XLIII. A PROCESSION.
 44. 
XLIV. THE START.
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Part II THE WILDERNESS.
 1. 
I. THE CAVALCADE.
  
II. THE SKULL-CAP.
 3. 
III. BY THE GARDEN.
 4. 
IV. OF MORTMAIN.
 5. 
V. CLAREL AND GLAUCON.
 6. 
VI THE HAMLET.
 7. 
VII GUIDE AND GUARD.
 8. 
VIII. ROLFE AND DERWENT.
 9. 
IX. THROUGH ADOMMIN.
 10. 
X. A HALT.
 11. 
XI. OF DESERTS.
 12. 
XII. THE BANKER.
 13. 
XIII. FLIGHT OF THE GREEKS.
 14. 
XIV. BY ACHOR.
 15. 
XV. THE FOUNTAIN.
 16. 
XVI. NIGHT IN JERICHO.
 17. 
XVII. IN MID-WATCH.
 18. 
XVIII. THE SYRIAN MONK.
 19. 
XIX. AN APOSTATE.
 20. 
XX. UNDER THE MOUNTAIN.
 21. 
XXI. THE PRIEST AND ROLFE.
 22. 
XXII. CONCERNING HEBREWS.
 23. 
XXIII. BY THE JORDAN.
 24. 
XXIV. THE RIVER-RITE.
 25. 
XXV. THE DOMINICAN.
 26. 
XXVI. OF ROME.
 27. 
XXVII. VINE AND CLAREL.
 28. 
XXVIII. THE FOG.
 29. 
XXIX. BY THE MARGE.
 30. 
XXX. OF PETRA.
 31. 
XXXI. THE INSCRIPTION.
 32. 
XXXII. THE ENCAMPMENT.
 33. 
XXXIII. LOT'S SEA.
 34. 
XXXIV. MORTMAIN REAPPEARS.
 35. 
XXXV. PRELUSIVE.
 36. 
XXXVI. SODOM.
 37. 
XXXVII. OF TRADITIONS.
 38. 
XXXVIII. THE SLEEP-WALKER.
 39. 
XXXIX. OBSEQUIES.
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VOL. II.
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PART III. MAR SABA.
 1. 
I. IN THE MOUNTAIN.
 2. 
II. THE CARPENTER.
 3. 
III. OF THE MANY MANSIONS.
 4. 
IV. THE CYPRIOTE.
 5. 
V. THE HIGH DESERT.
 6. 
VI. DERWENT.
 7. 
VII. BELL AND CAIRN.
 8. 
VIII. TENTS OF KEDAR.
 9. 
IX. OF MONASTERIES.
 10. 
X. BEFORE THE GATE.
 11. 
XI. THE BEAKER.
 12. 
XII. THE TIMONEER'S STORY.
 13. 
XIII. SONG AND RECITATIVE.
 14. 
XIV. THE REVEL CLOSED.
 15. 
XV. IN MOONLIGHT.
 16. 
XVI. THE EASTER FIRE.
 17. 
XVII. A CHANT.
 18. 
XVIII. THE MINSTER.
 19. 
XIX. THE MASQUE.
 20. 
XX. AFTERWARD.
 21. 
XXI. IN CONFIDENCE.
 22. 
XXII. THE MEDALLION.
 23. 
XXIII. DERWENT WITH THE ABBOT.
 24. 
XXIV. VAULT AND GROTTO.
 25. 
XXV. DERWENT AND THE LESBIAN.
 26. 
XXVI. VINE AND THE PALM.
 27. 
XXVII. MAN AND BIRD.
 28. 
XXVIII. MORTMAIN AND THE PALM.
 29. 
XXIX. ROLFE AND THE PALM.
 30. 
XXX. THE CELIBATE.
 31. 
XXXI. THE RECOIL.
 32. 
XXXII. EMPTY STIRRUPS.
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PART IV. BETHLEHEM.
 1. 
I. IN SADDLE.
 2. 
II. THE ENSIGN.
 3. 
III. THE ISLAND.
 4. 
IV. AN INTRUDER.
 5. 
V. OF THE STRANGER.
 6. 
VI. BETHLEHEM.
 7. 
VII. AT TABLE.
 8. 
VIII. THE PILLOW.
 9. 
IX. THE SHEPHERDS' DALE.
 10. 
X. A MONUMENT.
 11. 
XI. DISQUIET.
 12. 
XII. OF POPE AND TURK.
 13. 
XIII. THE CHURCH OF THE STAR.
 14. 
XIV. SOLDIER AND MONK.
 15. 
XV. SYMPHONIES.
 16. 
XVI. THE CONVENT ROOF.
 17. 
XVII. A TRANSITION.
 18. 
XVIII. THE HILL-SIDE.
 19. 
XIX. A NEW-COMER.
 20. 
XX. DERWENT AND UNGAR.
 21. 
XXI. UNGAR AND ROLFE.
 22. 
XXII. OF WICKEDNESS THE WORD.
 23. 
XXIII. DERWENT AND ROLFE.
 24. 
XXIV. TWILIGHT.
 25. 
XXV. THE INVITATION.
 26. 
XXVI. THE PRODIGAL.
 27. 
XXVII. BY PARAPET.
 28. 
XXVIII. DAVID'S WELL.
 29. 
XXIX. THE NIGHT RIDE.
 30. 
XXX. THE VALLEY OF DECISION.
 31. 
XXXI. DIRGE.
 32. 
XXXII. PASSION WEEK.
 33. 
XXXIII. EASTER.
 34. 
XXXIV. VIA CRUCIS.
 35. 
XXXV. EPILOGUE.

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Not slack was ocean's wrinkled son
In study of the mountain town—
Much like himself, indeed, so gray
Left in life's waste to slow decay.
For index now as he stretched forth
His loose-sleeved arm in sailor way
Pointing the bearings south and north,
Derwent, arrested, cried, “Dost bleed?”
Touching the naked skin: “Look here—
A living fresco!” And indeed,
Upon the fore-arm did appear
A thing of art, vermil and blue,
A crucifixion in tattoo,
With trickling blood-drops strange to see.
Above that emblem of the loss,
Twin curving palm-boughs draping met
In manner of a canopy
Over an equi-limbed small cross
And three tri-spiked and sister crowns:
And under these a star was set:
And all was tanned and toned in browns.
In chapel erst which knew the mass,
A mullioned window's umber glass
Dyed with some saintly legend old,
Obscured by cobwebs; this might hold
Some likeness to the picture rare
On arm here webbed with straggling hair.
447

“Leave out the crucifixion's hint,”
Said Rolfe, “the rest will show in tint
The Ensign: palms, cross, diadems,
And star—the Sign!—Jerusalem's,
Coeval with King Baldwin's sway.—
Skilled monk in sooth ye need have sought
In Saba.”
Quoth the sea-sage: “Nay;
Sketched out it was one Christmas day
Off Java-Head. Little I thought
(A heedless lad, scarce through youth's straits—
How hopeful on the wreckful way)
What meant this thing which here ye see,
The bleeding man upon the tree;
Since then I've felt it, and the fates.”
“Ah—yes,” sighed Derwent; “yes, indeed!
But 'tis the Ensign now we heed.”
The stranger here his dusk eye ran
In reading sort from man to man,
Cleric to sailor—back again.
“But, shipmate,” Derwent cried; “tell me:
How came you by this blazonry?”
“We seamen, when there's naught to do
In calms, the straw for hats we plait,
Or one another we tattoo
With marks we copy from a mate,
Which he has from his elders ta'en,
And those from prior ones again;
And few, if any, think or reck
But so with pains their skin to deck.
This crucifixion, though, by some
A charm is held 'gainst watery doom.”
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