You Are the Answer to the Dreams of Your Ancestors
I.
You are the answer
to the dreams of your ancestors.
When they were lovemaking
under canopies of shame
and love and the fear of what would come,
they dreamed of you.
They dreamed of you
that you would come and redeem them.
Redeem all they had been and done,
and hadn’t,
one generation, ten thousand years, later
when everyone else had forgotten
what it smelled like
as they gave themselves to the Earth
to the only One who could save them—
You did not forget.
Take back your ancestors and take back your hearts.
Look around you, take care of this land.
For this
is Eden.
You are the answer
to your ancestor’s prayers:
To make this world remember Peace,
to make this world again know Love;
for the world they wished they could have seen,
but which they never ceased believing
you couldn’t help but make happen.
You are the answer
to your ancestor’s prayers:
That someone would come who would care
for all the places and all the hearts of the
air and earth, water and sky beings,
Past and today and future –
of all the beloved ones and
all the ones who generation after generation
are the most unseen
forgotten.
You are the answer to your ancestor’s prayers:
Don’t think you don’t belong Here.
No need to question it.
Don’t try to make it make sense.
Rest instead in that great, beloved knowing:
You are a chosen one.
They needed you here,
Prayed for you to be here—
Knowing you were the One who
could finally carry their bones home
to bury them
in the fertile field
of your great heart,
to dream of them and pray to them and pray for them to come
again and guide you,
with what you needed to do:
To close the affairs
they weren’t able to close,
to bring the healing
they couldn’t yet bring;
to be free in a way
they could never have dreamed of,
but did;
To come home again,
and coming home, make whole
all the way forward,
all the way back,
for all the ones
across space and time
still out wandering the deserts
of their great hearts
looking for Love everywhere except in their own hearts.
Please, granddaughters,
grandchildren,
look inside your own hearts.
I can’t be anywhere else.
I can only be here.
I can only be here.
Do not doubt you have a place here
Something that only you can do:
Sing a song for us
Make love to the ocean for us
Love a child on this earth for us
Light a great wild sky fire for us
so the smoke can burn through the layers of space and time
that seem to separate us,
But don’t.
We are here
And we are watching you pray
for the next ones to come
as we once prayed for you.
II.
Thank you, ancestors, thank you for coming before me.
Thank you for showing me the way.
Thank you for praying
for me to come.
I honor you
I cherish you
I grieve for you
I pray for you
I live in peace for you
I work for justice for you
I light incense in memory for you
I dance on the great fire of my heart for you.
I write this song of love for you
I sing my poetry to all of the people for you.
I listen to guidance from the trees and the earth for you.
I listen carefully for you.
I walk carefully listening for you.
I hate no hates for you.
I love all my loves for you.
I dream the next generation’s dreams for you
I let go and let go and let go and let go for you
Doing what is mine to be done right now
I live in ceremony.
I rest when it is time for rest.
And when you speak
I listen
with the soft edges of my body,
with all the ears of my heart.
And you will know
your prayer has not been in vain.
Thank you for coming before me.
Thank you for showing me the way.
Thank you for praying
for me to come.
I am here
without duty.
I am here with an open heart
In Love.
Please keep singing your songs into me:
It is how I know my place of belonging.
It is how I know you are well.
It is how I know what is mine to
pray for next
Thank you, ancestors,
I see you
I hear you
I claim my courage for you
I open my heart to peace for you.
I go out into the terrible darkness for you.
I rise up into the soul light of song for you.
I love and love and love for you.
I am quiet and lay close to the earth for you.
I tell the truth of my heart for you.
I take care of the Earth and the unseen ones for you.
I forget for you and I remember for you and I welcome all the feelings that flow through my heart for you.
I give to death my cherishings for you.
I rest in peace forever and ever for you.
Ancestors, precious ones,
grandmothers and grandfathers,
Guides and angels,
Protectors, seen and unseen,
Please rest now
with ease and gladness in your hearts,
knowing
Your prayers have been answered.
The waters of your love have carved
through the limestone mountains of the generations
the steep cliffs by which we’ve journeyed to be together here
the caverns inside which
press our foreheads to the earth
offering up our lives
in total surrender.
Rest now, Dear Ones
knowing
We are here
among you.
And we are praying for
the next ones
who will come,
as you once prayed for us.
