Tag Archives: ancestry

OLD PATHS

The path beneath my feet

Is one unknown to me.

If I have traversed this way before

It has been lost to memory.

Perhaps, it seems, to be

one once described to me

by lineage and ancestry.

Sicily was often overrun

by strangers to her shore,

Creating new paths to run

new tales of history

of those who had gone before.

Does age create such doubts?

Does age turn straight paths

Into meandering round-abouts

where youthful traffic refuses

to take the time to stop?

Does age create the unmarked trails,

or does youth misdirect those who fail

to take the time to study new maps?

Choosing instead to take a nap.

Forget the nap.

Forget the map.

Become the child again whose life thrives

on striking out for parts unknown

on paths that are not yet overgrown

with comforts and plots we had sown

before we grew too old to recall

what it feels like to stand brave and tall.

Take the unknown path after all.

Live again a life in thrall.

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THE ANCESTORS

Their voices still speak

inside my head, alive yet,

beyond years long dead.

Angelo Annarino, Sr. and Angela Abbruzzi Annarino

The voices of our parents are never silent. They live inside us and travel beyond us through our words.

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TOO OLD TO SEE

Angelo Annarino, Sr. with his youngest grandchild, Johnny.

Too late I rise to see the dawn

of new days when peace is praised;

when all may love, and loving live;

favored by children who long to give

new ways of seeing, doing and being.

We aged can only live on faith

that youth will find a way through

the messy world we leave behind,

and accept our fervent hope

that one day they may forgive

those who refused to awaken

to what the world could be

if it had embraced love

and respect for all humanity.

Days grow shorter, faster,

sooner to see sleep arrive

and dreams of years of work gone by

to create the space for family to thrive.

Touch remains with soft words of praise

for children and grandchildren

who have learned my ways.

I am satisfied.

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