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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
HERITAGE, by ROSELLE MERCIER MONTGOMERY Poet's Biography First Line: Old things, strange things, stir in the blood of me Last Line: I know—that I can nevermore be free! Subject(s): Ancestry & Ancestors | |||
OLD things, strange things, stir in the blood of me! A caveman bludgeons to the earth his prey; Adventuring Norsemen ride the wind and sea; Gay cavaliers fling reckless dice at play. A pirate hides his chest of ill-got gold; A prelate of the church tells beads at prayer; A robber baron swaggers, roistering, bold; A mountain shepherd tends his flocks with care. A Puritan sets forth for unknown lands; A soldier falls; a cloistered scholar walks; A Scottish elder prays with lifted hands; A poet dreams; a savage tomahawks. A princess binds her braids of pale gold hair; A farmer's wife sets forth her pies and cakes; A gypsy maiden sings a haunting air; A faithless wife her liege's hearth forsakes. All these go surging in the blood of me— The blood that ran in them, my heritage! Why else have I mad longing for the sea? Why do I shake with wild insensate rage? Why do I dream? Why feel the need to pray? And why do mountains calm the soul of me? Why do I keep upon my narrow way, Who know so well the road to Romany? They know—they know—whose blood is met in me! I know—that I can nevermore be free! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ANCESTOR, ANCESTOR by ANNE WALDMAN PSYCHOGENESIS by MABEL STANDLEY MARSTON ISIS by FREDERIC ROWLAND MARVIN THE SPARK FROM THE ENGINE by JANET B. MONTGOMERY MCGOVERN RED HILLS AND SKY by JANE MILLER ON BEING AN ANCESTRESS (TO MY GREAT-GREAT, GRANDCHILDREN) by ROSELLE MERCIER MONTGOMERY ISRAEL'S HERITAGE by IDA GOLDSMITH MORRIS A DESERTED HOUSE by ROSELLE MERCIER MONTGOMERY |
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