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 come 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.

About This Poem
"Heritage" was published in "Harlem Shadows" (Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922).

About Claude McKay
Claude McKay was born in Jamaica on Sept. 15, 1889. His collections of poetry include "Songs of Jamaica" (Gardner, 1912) and "Constab Ballads" (Watts, 1912). He died on May 22, 1948.

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This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate