Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
The Family Blood
By Aaron Cleveland (17441815)F
And govern, each in turn, my brains.
From C
I had my parentage in quarters;
My fathers’ fathers’ names I know,
And further back no doubt might go.
Compound on compound from the flood,
Makes up my old ancestral blood;
But what my sires of old time were,
I neither wish to know, nor care.
Some might be wise—and others fools;
Some might be tyrants—others tools;
Some might have wealth, and others lack;
Some fair perchance—some almost black;
No matter what in days of yore,
Since now they’re known and seen no more.
Which any foundling too might bear:
P
A bonny Laird of ancient fame:
S
Perhaps was outlawed from the nation;
And W
Straight—round-about from—Aberdeen!
A motley mixture, bad and good:
Each blood aspires to rule alone,
And each in turn ascends the throne,
Of its poor realm to wear the crown,
And reign till next one tears him down.
Each change must twist about my brains,
And move my tongue in different strains;
My mental powers are captive led,
As whim or wisdom rules the head;
My character no one can know,
For none I have while things are so;
I’m something—nothing, wise, or fool,
As suits the blood that haps to rule.
In giving words the funny hit;
And social glee and humorous song
Delight the fools that round me throng:
Till P
And hauls the C
Whate’er I do, whate’er devise;
What common sense and wisdom teach,
Directs my actions, forms my speech;
The wise and good around me stay,
And laughing dunces hie away.
May for some other change again!
S
I’m now a philosophic fool!
With Jefferson I correspond,
And sail with him, the stars beyond;
Each nerve and fibre of my brain
To sense profound I nicely strain,
And thus uprise beyond the ken
Of common sense and common men.
About my ears comes tumbling down.
Wise fools may soar themselves above,
And dream in rapturous spheres they move;
But airy castles must recoil,
And such wild imagery spoil.
Rushing and blustering to head-quarters:
He knows nor manners, nor decorum,
But elbows headlong to the forum;
Uncouth and odd, abrupt and bold,
Unteachable and uncontrolled,
Devoid of wisdom, sense, or wit,
Not one thing right he ever hit,
Unless by accident, not skill,
He blundered right against his will.
Can sink me to a lower station:
Come, P
And, once for all, possess the crown.
If aught, in S
Will make your own still more refined;
If found in C
To aid you in affairs of state;
No more to rule in brain or breast.
Of W
Let not one drop pollute my soul:
Then rule my head—and keep my heart
From folly, weakness, wit apart:
With all such gifts I glad dispense,
But only leave me—