<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Ancestors & Angels</div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I write words to catch up to the ancestors</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">An angel told me the only way</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">to walk through fire</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">without getting burned</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">is to become fire.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Some days angels whisper</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">In my ear as I walk</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Down the street and I fall in love</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">With every person I meet,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">And I think, maybe this</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Could be a bliss</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Like when Dante met</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Beatrice.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Other days all I see</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">is my collusion</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">with illusion.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Ghosts of projection</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">masquerading</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">as the radiant angel</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">of love.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">You know I feel like</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the ancestors</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">brought us together.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I feel like the ancestors</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Brought us here and they</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Expect great things.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">They</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">expect us to say what</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">we think and</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">live how</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">we feel and follow the hard paths</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">that bring us near joy.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">They expect us</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">to nurture</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><i class="">all</i> the children.</div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I write poems to welcome angels</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and conjure ancestors.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I pray to the angels of politics</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and love.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I pray for justice sake</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">not to be relieved of my frustrations,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">at the same time burning sage</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and asking for patience.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I march with the people</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">to the border</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">between nations</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">where</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">everything stops</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">except</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the greed of corporations.</div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Thoughts like comets</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">calculating the complexity</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">of the complicity.</div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">There is so much noise in the oceans</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the whales can’t hear each other.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">We’re making them crazy,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">driving dolphins insane.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">What kind of ancestors</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">are we?</div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Thoughts like comets</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">leaving craters</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">in the landscape of my consciousness.</div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I pray to the ancestors and angels.</div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Meet me in the garden.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Meet me where spirit walks softly</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">in the cool of the evening.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Meet me in the garden</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">under the wings of the bird</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">of many colors.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Meet me</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">in the garden</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">of your longing.</div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Every breath</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">is a pilgrimage.</div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Every</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">breath</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">is a pilgrimage</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">to you.</div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I pray</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">to be</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">a conduit.</div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">An angel told me:</div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">The only way</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">to walk through fire—</div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><i class="">become fire.</i></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><i class=""> </i></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Drew Dellinger</div></div></body></html>