THE ONES THAT CAME BEFORE

A legion came before us, that and more

First two, then four, then double that and soon

The numbers swell till we can hardly count

Those faceless thousands that gave rise to us

And whether on foul ships, heartsick and tired

Or banished from their native lands in chains

Or ventured here across the frozen wastes

All joined now in our tapestry of life

We still see fleeting traces of the ones

Whose bodies lie beneath us and whose bones

Enrich the soil we walk on and whose songs

Died in the woods and rivers, but live on

Their faces are reflected even still

Their voices ring in laughter, waft in sighs

The paths their toughened feet have beaten out

Lie somewhere even still beneath the dust

Our cities rise and sparkle, boom and clang

And factories churn out busy-ness and sound

We travel now through mazes, furious

In tangles ever circling, never still

Where in that chain, then, how far back are we?

That far-flung human chain of ancestry

Who will we nourish, who will we inspire?

What will we leave them, where will our trails lead?