Ancestors

I want to share this poem by my 8th cousin, Mary Michelle Keller. She is deeply into genealogy and found we have the same lines in our background. Before we knew we were cousins, we were friends. Barry called her "Cuz."

Ancestors
Census copies strew across my desk
keys that fit rusty locks of remembrance
yield up the flesh of those long dead

I am the keeper of their stories
gathered from dusty history book
records of birth, death and probate

They sailed on ships of cholera
some for adventure, others respite
all for new beginnings, for freedom

The adversity they left followed
some died only to have just begun
others survived to plant their seed

I am here because of them
I will not let them lie in obscurity
I will raise them and remember.

                Mary Michelle Brodine Keller