FORBEARS of mine, who brought your meed of blood To mingle in my own and urge each vein Riot with hostile impulse, clash in feud Unceasing and unceasable, who reign Lords of my life, my actions, from the grave See me your scion, servant, serf and slave, Cymri and Quaker, stiff-neck'd Puritan From Concord in New England, Cornishman, (Wrecker and bigot, baffled libertine) Crew prison'd, bound in bleak convention's ban, I have lived all your unliv'd lives in mine. By your compulsion, forth from servitude, Fierce into freedom I have fought a-main, Lived a man's life and largely, e'er eschewed Your inhibitions, followed in fair train Of good Queen Cynara, at all times have Blazed my own trail, embolden'd to out-brave Hypocrisy; firm, adamantean, Have kept myself true cosmopolitan In spirit, grasped my good where found, divine Sources have tapped, been Beauty's guardian I have lived all your unliv'd lives in mine. I have been Love's true lover, oft renewed Sight, soul and sense 'neath Love's electric chain, Refreshed my flagging forces with such food As Love has flung me, never loved in vain, Sighed on the midnight, sung at daybreak, glaive Scarce-sheath'd, have drawn afresh to fight and weave Glad way yet forward, storm-scarred veteran, Gone gay and stubborn to the end, to glean Bright gold from sable shale in rain or shine, Been all that man may be—save charlatan. ... I have lived all your unliv'd lives in mine. I have achieved Success and found it good Until achieved; thereon, in high disdain, Have flung it from me; with this, livelihood Have jettison'd, set forth on fresh campaign, Have reached new goal, have greeted this, to leave It when some loftier vision dawned and drave Me onward 'mid harsh hyperborean Storm, stress and striving; always artisan Of mine own fortunes, ever left the fine For the yet finer. ... Epicurean, I have lived all your unliv'd lives in mine. I have avenged you greatly. By God's rood I have avenged you, bid you live again, And this time fully; oft-times have endu'd Your frustrate dreams with increment and gain, Have giv'n to life more amply, known to save And reap more richly ... since I careless gave; Have striven more stoutly, drunk more deeply, can Look back with less regret on such short span As Fate, as Circumstance decree, destine By chance, by choice, by sheer caprice, cold plan. ... I have lived all your unliv'd lives in mine. @3Envoi@1 "The Dead Command!" So was it, from Death's cave, Those ancient inhibitions bade me cleave, Obedient, to strong, subterranean Hest and insistence, starkly Stygian. ... So came it I, your offspring, who enshrine Old hopes, past longings, steadfast served lost clan, And have lived all your unliv'd lives in mine. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PORTRAIT OF A BABY by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET HOPE (1) by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON REVIEW by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON AT THE ZOO IN SPAIN by CLARENCE MAJOR THE SLAVE TRADE: VIEW FROM THE MIDDLE PASSAGE by CLARENCE MAJOR |