Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Here you will find thePoemHeredityof poet Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Heredity

A soldier of the Cromwell stamp, With sword and psalm-book by his side, At home alike in church and camp: Austere he lived, and smileless died. But she, a creature soft and fine- From Spain, some say, some say from France; Within her veins leapt blood like wine- She led her Roundhead lord a dance! In Grantham church they lie asleep; Just where, the verger may not know. Strange that two hundred years should keep The old ancestral fires aglow! In me these two have met again; To each my nature owes a part: To one, the cool and reasoning brain; To one, the quick, unreasoning heart.