Ancestry

“There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his.”

~Helen Keller

Ancestry

My blood ages like the wine of
The first grapes known to Man.
I am descendant from One
Origin, One Source, One Garden.
Yet, somewhere along my history
I became many more who I long for
Knowing. Who reproduced me over
The ages, aging too, like I am now?
Which ancestors could predict these words
I now etch in black and white?
Writing is a duty, but I cannot write in blood.
The pages of my cardinal story cannot be turned.
They are strung together linearly and horizontally, not vertically.
These pages are a serpentine outline you can follow, not flip,

Of the space that I inhabit,

The space that I am slowly ceding
To my Son. Daniel will be an ancestor too,
I hope, because ancestry is the duty
You can write in blood.