Heritage

Heritage
James Still

I shall not leave these prisoning hills
Though they topple their barren heads to level earth
And the forests slide uprooted out of the sky.
Though the waters of Troublesome, of Trace Fork,
Of Sand Lick rise in a single body to glean the valleys,
To drown lush pennyroyal, to unravel rail fences;
Though the sun-ball breaks the ridges into dust
And burns its strength into the blistered rock
I cannot leave. I cannot go away.

Being of these hills, being on with the fox
Stealing into the shadows, one with the new-born foal,
The lumbering ox drawing green beech logs to mill,
One with the destined feet of man climbing and descending
And one with death rising to bloom again, I cannot go. Being of these hills, I cannot pass beyond.

I really enjoyed the concept and metaphors presented in this poem. I interpreted it as kind of a poem where you can never escape who you are and where you come from. It is like you want to escape, but you will never be able to.

This concept is apparent in the end of the poem that was italicized,
"And one with death rising to bloom again, I cannot go. Being of these hills, I cannot pass beyond."
That even in death, you cannot escape who you are or where you come from.


The poem used description and enjambment to create the theme of the poem, and used two stanzas to do this.