Sunday, January 27, 2008

Ancestor Dance

I saw my ancestors last night
They were standing around outside the wall of a castle
Waiting
(This surprised me, because for the longest time
I was sure that I was, in a previous life, in Hannibal's army
Following the elephants over the Alps
Helping to fertilize the countryside)
I was pretty sure that they weren't waiting for me
But I was looking down on them
Not because of any social status I had acquired
But, from the wall above them
I seemed to have been tethered to the outer
Walls - Like a poor man's Prometheus
I started worrying about my liver
Below me were all manner of men and women
These were people responsible for the genetic materials
That made me
Whatever uniqueness I was was from the combinations of those
Before the stone wall
As I watched them drift off into the mists
(It must have been English heaths, why not–It was my dream and it beat the
Shitty Alps)
I felt as though my tethers were snapping one at a time as they left, looking
Back over their shoulders as they walked away
Rather than a fear of falling
I knew that once they were gone
Or forgotten
I would drift off
Not tied to earth or the past or
Connected to the future
Set adrift in the air like the ether
Unattached
Sharing both ultimate freedom
And eternal entrapment

4 comments:

Bubba said...

Harry, who else but you could be tethered to a wall and foremost in his mind would be an all-consuming worry for the fate of his liver?

Somewhere your forebearers are licking the salt off their glasses and proposing toasts to your health.

A fan

Jo Janoski said...

To heck with your liver, I'm still stuck picturing the elephants fertilizing the countryside...

Word Catalyst Magazine said...

You're right, it's your damn dream!You can translate it any way you like. Dream on, Harry.

Dan said...

I'm with Bubba--priorities, man, priorities.