The Portent
by Herman Melville (1859)
Hanging from the beam,
. Slowly swaying (such the law),
Gaunt the shadow on your green,
. Shenandoah!
The cut is on the crown
. (Lo, John Brown),
And the stabs shall heal no more.
Hidden in the cap
. Is the anguish none can draw;
So your future veils its face,
. Shenandoah!
But the streaming beard is shown
. (Weird John Brown),
The meteor of the war.
The Last Moments of John Brown by Thomas Hovenden