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 before 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
So many 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.