by Katherine Billings Palmer
I view the whole picture
Chance and fate
The ancestors who met
While living their own journeys
Some desired a new land
Channeled the wind in their sails
In pursuit of better lives
And promising futures
English
Scottish
German
French
Canadian
Irish
American
That all of them collided and became
the great
constellation
of my
ancestry
Seems miraculous
We are all the product of
a million
split-
second
decisions by
Hundreds of forebears
Those lucky survivors of
storms
wars
famines and
plagues
We are the result of
centuries
of
love
stories
Suddenly,
I feel
uniquely
meant to be