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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
HERITAGE, by SELMA DERRY First Line: Through the lengths of many winds Last Line: I, daughter of gaunt women. Subject(s): Ancestors & Ancestry; Women; Heritage; Heredity | |||
Through the lengths of many winds Women have walked mournfully: Pale women with burdens hanging in their hands, Frail women burned with stars, Thin women hiding grey tears: Each has walked carefully in her dusk, Each has borne pride to a star. And now am I a woman And I have found an indulgent thing, I have found a frantic useful thing, I have worn its touch upon my mouth, Upon my breast -- And it is not for me, Daughter of gaunt women. I have seen their dusk cut with stars, I have seen dead hands clutch at my knees And I will walk bravely. I will wind white crepe upon my arms, I will exalt my pride of body, I will fill my narrow grave: I will be brave, I, daughter of gaunt women. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CRESCENT MOON ON A CAT?ÇÖS COLLAR by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA DOCKERY AND SON by PHILIP LARKIN GENEALOGY OF FIRE by KHALED MATTAWA EAST OF CARTHAGE: AN IDYLL by KHALED MATTAWA FOR AL-TAYIB SALIH by KHALED MATTAWA HISTORY OF MY FACE by KHALED MATTAWA BEGINNING WITH 1914 by LISEL MUELLER AN AMERICAN POEM by EILEEN MYLES TO THE DIASPORA: YOU DID NOT KNOW YOU WERE AFRIKA by GWENDOLYN BROOKS THE IMPOSSIBLE INDISPENSIBILITY OF THE ARS POETICA by HAYDEN CARRUTH JOHN MOULDY by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 19. TO AN ATHLETE DYING YOUNG by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN |
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