Family Gold

I inherited my father’s slender piano-player hands and

My mother’s horsey farm-girl feet

My grandmother’s quiet confidence

My grandfather’s sly hustle

My great grandmother’s unexpected tenacity

My great grandfather’s iron will

All of this in me is a daily nod to them

Unseen, I often hear their cheers as

I bow my head and raise my hands in gratitude

To the loving ghosts pulsing through my choices

To the notions of the largess I forever belong to

It was always a relay race and now that the baton is mine,

I am running hard, running fast

To be their dreams still unfolding

Whatever small victories I grab, I taste them once for me and once for the tribe

I will circle the sun again and again, skate over the stars and bring the gold back to them.