Dear Ancestor
Your tombstone stands among the rest;
Neglected and alone,
The name and date are chiseled out
On polished marbled 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, in blood, in 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 if you lived and loved,
I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot,
And come to visit you.
Author Unknown
Today we walked where others walked
On a lonely, windswept hill;
Today we talked where other cried
For Loved Ones whose lives are stilled.
Today our hearts were touched
By graves of tiny babies;
Snatched from the arms of loving kin,
In the heartbreak of the ages.
Today we saw where the grandparents lay
In the last sleep of their time;
Lying under the trees and clouds -
Their beds kissed by the sun and wind.
Today we wondered about an unmarked spot;
Who lies beneath this hollowed ground?
Was it a babe, child, young or old?
No indication could be found.
Today we saw where Mom and Dad lay.
We had been here once before
On a day we'd all like to forget,
But will remember forever more.
Today we recorded for kith and kin
The graves of ancestors past;
To be preserved for generations hence,
A record we hope will last.
Cherish it, my friend; preserve it, my friend,
For stones sometimes crumble to dust
And generations of folks yet to come
By Thelma Greene Reagan
NEVER FORGET
I may have died long ago,
But I am not gone.
My body may rest among thousands,
But I still exist.
When you see this camp before you,
You see where I breathed my last.
When you look at the ground,
You see my footprints.
As you walk upon this soil,
You step over my bones.
When you see old photographs,
My eyes look at yours.
When you hear the wind whisper,
You are hearing my voice.
When your eyes brim with tears,
It is me tugging your heart.
"Never forget," I whisper to you
And you hear my desperate words.
I may not be alive today,
But in your heart, I still live.
Remember me.
by Tawnysha Lynch