Wednesday, February 15, 2017

HERITAGE


Edged by ancient trees, the old pioneer
cemetery was an island of green
dotted with weathered gray markers,
silent sentinels to those who’d gone before,
sturdy pioneers who bravely followed
their dreams on hash-marked trails
through verdant forests and across rivers,
from Virginia to Kentucky to this spot
in southern Indiana near the Ohio River.

Five generations later, I stand under
a cloudless azure sky, lost in wonder
at the endless chain of life that brought
me here, surrounded by ancestors who
trod this soil all those years ago, whose
blood runs red in my veins and whose
genetic imprint fashions who I am.  

I sit, leaning against a tree, listening to
birdsong as dusk turns the sky crimson
and gold, overcome with a feeling of
reverence.  I will be different somehow
after this visit.  I know now this is my
moment in time, my responsibility to
be an honorable link from yesterday
to tomorrow.

******************
Submitted to dVerse Open Link, February, 2017
(A visit to Hopewell Pioneer Cemetery outside
Lanesville, Indiana, where my fifth great grandfather,
a Revolutionary War soldier, rests with others of
our family).

11 comments:

  1. Nice ending and good advice about our "responsibility to be an honorable link from yesterday
    to tomorrow."

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  2. I love the last line of this. And it is so very true. A dear friend of mine is from Goshen, IN

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  3. How very moving to be in that place and know your ancestors were at one time working and living in that area ~ Yes, carry on with the precious heritage and pass it on to the next generation ~

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  4. to be an honorable link from yesterday to tomorrow..... that is a great and noble line.

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  5. Oh wow. I love these sections:

    "I stand under
    a cloudless azure sky, lost in wonder"

    "I will be different somehow
    after this visit. I know now this is my
    moment in time, my responsibility to
    be an honorable link from yesterday
    to tomorrow."

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  6. This is so subdued in emotion, yet I feel the roots awakening in that visits. We are so connected to our past...

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  7. Never forget where you come from and what made you.

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  8. such a beautiful memory/poem. And what a great heritage!

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  9. 'by ancestors who
    trod this soil all those years ago, whose
    blood runs red in my veins and whose
    genetic imprint fashions who I am. '

    The strong emotions simmer in this. I feel the power here.

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  10. I adore graveyards especially old ones I find them comforting. I like how you linked yourself to the past and future bringing them together with the dead.

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