Archives of old documents
The scroll of microfilm
Searching for a clue
An inkling of Truth
To understand a glimpse
Past legacies
How did you reconcile exile?
Driven from your homeland
Persecution, famine, greed?
Under the faint glow of a banker’s lamp
I see vital statistics
A name listed on a ship’s manifest
An early passing denoted
On a death certificate, your birthplace cited
On the faded pages of 19th century census records
I bear your name
Yet, know so little
Of your struggles,
Your joys, your sorrows?
In America, did your find a better way of life?
There was a time
Through the ages, the bards of tribe
Memorized the bloodlines of the clan
Ancestors were worshipped
Ritual venerated tradition
Altars of remembrance placed
Near the hearth of the home
Candle glow and offerings
Milk, wine and honey libations
Poured into copper bowls
Beseeching departed spirits
To watch over their descendants
Still, we seek the ancient lore
Blessings from the Ancestors,
Montages of photographs
On the walls of family dens
Someday, will pilgrimage be done?
To homelands, the places of our origins,
What will we discover
In the land where you came from?
Will we understand?
Will the Children of the Wanderers
Be gathered Home?