To an unknown ancestor, maybe

To an unknown ancestor, maybe

They do come dropping down to me

On thin treads of eternity

My songs,

And all that unto them belongs;

And who wrote first, that these words come

(Or they come not, and I am dumb,

But start

At some wild star that lights the heart).

I know not, but as dawn unlocks

The night’s old shadowy music box

I seize

A pen as struck by destinies

Far beyond anything I know

Born out of sight ages ago

By some

Chanceling from whose blood I come;

And how did the first rapture light

Upon that maker in his night?

Did he

Know my exact felicity?

What thou did’st then, old miscreant, thou

Hast much to claim or disavow

Alack!

I bear thy soul upon my back

10^th October 1971

Olive Fraser