My forefathers gave me My spirit's shaken flame, The shape of hands, the beat of heart, The letters of my name. But it was my lovers, And not my sleeping sires, Who gave the flame its changeful And iridescent fires; As the driftwood burning Learned its jewelled blaze From the sea's blue splendor Of colored nights and days. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LAUS INFANTIUM by WILLIAM CANTON THE PAINS OF SLEEP by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE ELEGY: 11. THE BRACELET; UPON THE LOSS OF HIS MISTRESS'S CHAIN by JOHN DONNE NOW PRECEDENT SONGS, FAREWELL by WALT WHITMAN THE WARM CRADLE by LAWRENCE ALMA-TADEMA SUNSET ON THE ORANGE MOUNTAINS by ADRIAN BERKOWITZ PSALMS 71. PRAYER AND SONG OF THE AGED CHRISTIAN by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE LINES; TO ONE WHO WISHED TO READ A POEM I HAD WRITTEN by ANNE CHARLOTTE LYNCH BOTTA |