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<div class="MsoNormal">Ancestors & Angels</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">I write words to catch up to the ancestors</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">An angel told me the only way </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">to walk through fire</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">without getting burned</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">is to become fire.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Some days angels whisper</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">In my ear as I walk</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Down the street and I fall in love</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">With every person I meet,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">And I think, maybe this</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Could be a bliss</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Like when Dante met</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Beatrice.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Other days all I see </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">is my collusion</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">with illusion.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Ghosts of projection</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">masquerading</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">as the radiant angel</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">of love.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">You know I feel like</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">the ancestors</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">brought us together.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">I feel like the ancestors</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Brought us here and they</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Expect great things.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">They</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">expect us to say what</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">we think and </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">live how</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">we feel and follow the hard paths</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">that bring us near joy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">They expect us</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">to nurture</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><i>all</i><span style="font-style:normal"> the children.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">I write poems to welcome angels</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">and conjure ancestors.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">I pray to the angels of politics</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">and love.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">I pray for justice sake</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">not to be relieved of my frustrations,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">at the same time burning sage</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">and asking for patience.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">I march with the people</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">to the border</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">between nations</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">where</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">everything stops</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">except </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">the greed of corporations.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Thoughts like comets</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">calculating the complexity</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">of the complicity.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">There is so much noise in the oceans</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">the whales can’t hear each other.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">We’re making them crazy,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">driving dolphins insane.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">What kind of ancestors</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">are we?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Thoughts like comets</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">leaving craters</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">in the landscape of my consciousness.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">I pray to the ancestors and angels.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Meet me in the garden.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Meet me where spirit walks softly</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">in the cool of the evening.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Meet me in the garden</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">under the wings of the bird</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">of many colors.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Meet me</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">in the garden</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">of your longing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Every breath</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">is a pilgrimage.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Every</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">breath</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">is a pilgrimage</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">to you.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">I pray</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">to be</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">a conduit.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">An angel told me:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">The only way</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">to walk through fire—</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><i>become fire.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><i><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Drew Dellinger<o:p></o:p></div>
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