The past is never quite behind us

journeys taken by former selves

and the present is guided

by those ghosts who love us

they walk with us in lockstep

though we may appear alone

the past is the forge

flames stoked by ancestral dreams

shaping the now and tomorrow

as we build our own

with our very hands

blood runs true

and blood remains

voices and blessings and hopes

so we remember

those shadow steps

when we feel most alone – Caroline A. Slee