Rosemary and Pansies

<h2><SPAN name="HEREDITY" id="HEREDITY"></SPAN>HEREDITY</h2> <div class="poetry"> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Our dead forefathers, mighty though they be,<br/></span> <span class="i0">For all their power still leave our spirits free;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Though on our paths their shadows far are thrown,<br/></span> <span class="i0">The life that each man liveth is his own.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Time stands like some schoolmaster old and stern,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And calls each human being in his turn<br/></span> <span class="i0">To write his task upon life’s blackboard space;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Death’s fingers then the finished work erase,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And the next pupil’s letters take its place.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">That he who wrote before thee labored well<br/></span> <span class="i0">Concerns thee not: thy work for thee must tell;<br/></span> <span class="i2">’Tis naught to thee if others’ tasks were ill:<br/></span> <span class="i0">Thou hast thy chance and canst improve it still.<br/></span> <span class="i0">From all thy fathers’ glory and their guilt<br/></span> <span class="i0">The board for thee is clean: write what thou wilt!<br/></span> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_13" id="page_13">{13}</SPAN></span></div> </div></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />