Where are My Roots?

The things that we

can see and touch

have lived and worked with

have played and slept with

erode with time and life events.

We carry the memories that they hold within them

as we spread ourselves to the four winds

Where are my roots?

They are 

in a wide prairie grain field,

in the hands and hearts that worked the soil.

They are 

in my childhood home

and the hands and hearts that grew my family.

Roots grow downwards and crawl sideways 

traveling with the moisture,

looking for the light.

Plants grow up through soil

soft and friable or

hard baked and cracked

but they will grow.

We each are part of the great roots that we seek

In the shade of my past, I dig up my roots.

In the sun of the present 

I see them more clearly as perspiration 

drips down my forehead 

runs down my face.

The future lingers in

the glare of the sun

or the deep darkness of a moonless night.

Fate and circumstance define 

the existence of my roots with

each child that is born,

each life that grows strong

with each family story that is shared.

"I will continue my path, but I will keep a memory always."

~ Rosie Thomas, Iris and Ruby