What would I learn
Could I raise your bones
From the earth?
And like some ancient medicine woman
Scatter them like runes to read
Or use them in the making
Of a sacred instrument
To rattle next to my ear?
What would their music tell me?
Would their rhythms move me?
Would there be some wisdom spoken?
Hidden within the notes of rattled rhythms
Of all your dried out unearthed bones
Is there enough marrow left to have
All my ancestors speak to me?
Should I, in some ancient tribal ritual
Of ancestral cannibalism,
Ingest your ground bones
Mixed with magic into an elixir
Infused with your ancestral spirits,
Be given the power of thunder
And lightening that is your strength
Earned by you through the ages?
Is this how your spirits will travel through me
Teaching me of all the earth and sky?
Is there a way to know, to learn
To hear all the secrets you deem I need,
Need to know in this time, this place
For this, this last chapter
Of what I have left to me?
My ancestors, for I have wasted
Away pages and chapters,
Squandered decades of the anthology
You have written into me.
Ancestors, speak to me,
So I waste not the years
Left to be written
By your spirits into me.
In her grandchildren, her spirit is woven– What a tapestry These children create.
The strongest fibers of her determination run In the eldest, wearing her grandmother’s face, Though she never knew her.
Threads of her courage and strength Weave into the only one who knew her, Who can remember the smell of her beef stew, As the grown child wages a battle for her life.
Yarns of responsibility and fun spin In the lone grandson, As he raises his son And forgets not how to play.
The delicate fine threads of her caring and her dreams Spin through the twins, Born too late to know her, One doing what must be done to care for others. the other creating a business of her art.
The warm, soft yarn of her love and generosity weaves through the youngest, my daughter, Born under the same December sun, As she becomes a nurse caring For babies born too early.
In my mother’s grandchildren, A tapestry of faith is woven, And I am taught DNA is more than science, Woven with soul upon Some ancient loom. This tapestry of spirit Where my mother lives still.
To participate in the Ragtag Daily Prompt, create a Pingback to your post, or copy and paste the link to your post into the comments. And while you’re there, why not check out some of the other posts too!
Showcasing the best of short films and screenplays from the LGBTQ+ community. Screenplay Winner every single month performed by professional actors. Film Festival occurs 21 times a year!
Hearing The Mermaids Sing 