Heritage
Claude McKay 1889 (Clarendon Parish) – 1948 (Chicago)
Now the dead past seems vividly alive,
And in this shining moment I can trace,
Down through the vista of the vanished years,
Your faun-like form, your fond elusive face.
And suddenly some secret spring's released,
And unawares a riddle is revealed,
And I can read like large, black-lettered print,
What seemed before a thing forever sealed.
I know the magic word, the graceful thought,
The song that fills me in my lucid hours,
The spirit's wine that thrills my body through,
And makes me music-drunk, are yours, all yours.
I cannot praise, for you have passed from praise,
I have no tinted thoughts to paint you true;
But I can feel and I can write the word;
The best of me is but the least of you.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 19, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 190 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XAXAXBXB XXCX XCXC |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 693 |
Words | 130 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 4, 4 |
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"Heritage" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/6860/heritage>.
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