My father got me strong and straight and slim And I give thanks to him. My mother bore me glad and sound and sweet, I kiss her feet! But now, with me, their generation fails And nevermore avails To cast through me the ancient mould again, Such women and men. I have no son, whose life of flesh and fire Sprang from my splendid sire; No daughter for whose soul my mother's flesh Wrought raiment fresh. Life's venerable rhythms like a flood Beat in my brain and blood, Crying from all generations past, "Is this the last?" And I make answer to my haughty dead, Who made me, heart and head, "Even the sunbeams falter, flicker and bend -- I am the end." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MY HAPPINESS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON AND THE GREATEST OF THESE IS WAR by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON A CERTAIN POET ON THE DEBATES by EDGAR LEE MASTERS DOMESDAY BOOK: DR. TRACE TO THE CORONER by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE NEGRO'S TRAGEDY by CLAUDE MCKAY ERASMUS by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON |