We Carry Our Ancestors

A Poem

That unsettled cave of sorrows and shame. 

Shadows of rage, the guilt and the pain. 

What if, sweet child, the grief that you feel —

Was not yours at all.

Was never quite real.

What if, dear one, the suffering you hold —

Is a burden long carried,

So ancient and old. 

Tucked deep in the bags you’ve been carrying round,

Lie the secrets of ancestors.

Once lost, now are found.

The traumas and trials, persecutions and pain.

Not healed in their lifetime, have come through once again. 

You have been chosen, child.

You are the one.

To set down the baggage

And move into the sun.

The darkness that’s followed so close at your heel

Is your duty to transmute, to liberate, to feel.

We carry our ancestors, my child, on our backs.

Til we remember our purpose, to set down the sacks. 

You have been chosen, child. 

You are the one. 

To clear lines for the future, 

A New Earth has begun.