Bloodlines

“Family Reunion Abstract” by Ruth Yuhas

spirits surround me

singing their centuries

watching me teaching me

holding me up to a standard

of ancestry gauging my fit

in this story of bloodlines

collections of characters

famous and infamous

hopeful and hopeless

the brave and the craven

my place in the train

of this intimate history

left to their judgment

of all they will see in my eyes

just before being closed

by the coins of viaticum