I am living proof of
the ancestral force of
        energy --
the determination, courage, pride,
hopes, dreams, and visions...
    that continue to prove the strength of one
people united.

    Even though there are
many people to respect
and honor for paving
the path on which I
stand on and walk
        today --
    having paved it with their bare hands--
    heart sometimes
        faint..
    eyes sometimes weak
but they managed to gaze at
me in the future
    as they molded me
        and chose to help me
           hold up my head when I couldn't..
with their tired, callused hands
    propping my chin.

    I do realize that
I represent their greatness,
having overcome their
weakness. I alone stand,
the composition of those
    before me,
            who left with me
grace and the ability to celebrate
and honor myself
and to encourage myself when called for.

A living legacy -- so that
    I might see myself in them,
live my life through them, fulfill
their dreams,
    but not forsake my own.

Helping me to realize that
I am my own hero --
    that I alone am worthy
    of the respect, honor, love -
that they sometimes did not receive.
    That through me, they live.
    Through me, they speak.
    Through me, they are recognized.
    Through me, they continue to accomplish and
                        reach new heights.

They have blended with me to make me
the something that I am today.

For I am a creation of the past
in my state of being,
        I am a hero of the present,
while I in the present continue
    striving to mold my own future
            moment by moment as the moment
blends into the day that eventually becomes
    tomorrow.


--------------------------------------------------
For the ancestors who sometimes remained nameless.