Poem: Dear Ancestor

On this All Souls’ Day (November 2nd), there are many different traditions from around the world to honor our dead. The simplest is taking the time to visit the cemetery. Looking into the past, the ancestors that we can never really know stretch back through time, weaving us into the web of the planet and letting us know that we belong.

"Dear Ancestor" by William Butler Yates

"Your tombstone stands among the rest      Neglected and alone. The name and date are chiseled out      On polished marble stone. It reaches out to all who care      It is too late to mourn. You did not know that I exist      You died and I was born. Yet each of us are cells of you      In flesh and blood and bone. Our blood contracts and beats a pulse      Entirely not our own. Dear Ancestor, the place you filled      One hundred years ago. Spreads out among the ones you left      Who would have loved you so. I wonder how you lived and loved      I wonder if you knew. That someday I would find this spot      And come to visit you." ~ William Butler Palmer

     

One thought on “Poem: Dear Ancestor

  1. MONICA C. DUNKLEY says:

    Loved the poem Ancestor! Somehow, when cremation is the choice for final arrangements, this falls short of some visiting .and some viewing, but then again, will the present generation feel that ‘family’ pull?

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