Places 29: Ancestry

The revisions of “Marks of Ancient Boundaries” in Places 2011
turned into nine comments on family genealogy.

I
Seeking to discover who we were,
turning through old maps and deeds,
searching Ancestry.com and 23 and Me,
links on our computer screens
traced strokes of fading inks.

Savoring our yesterdays,
we documented real people—
with real homes and real barns,
with real cows and crops of hay
grown on hard won family farms.
We saw their real debts;
we read the bills they’d paid
we researched all the family names
on vows marriage love once made—
on births and deaths all written down—
as if waiting to be found.

II
Between thin brittle paper paths
proving beds and births,
we sought for signs of strength,
for marks of battles won,
for challenges our forebears
rose to overcome.

We looked for jokes and laughter,
for tell-tale tears and fears,
the joyful play, the blushes,
the holiness of awe-filled hushes.

We sought signs of sweat
and listened for their family songs—
but their sighs, their cries, their giggles,
their broken teeth and birthmarks,
almost all were gone.
The hotly flowing blood,
the human will that us begot
was stilled.

III
How quietly our histories change
when cloth is cut in pieces;
frayed rags and tags of remnants remain.

Truth bends with all that’s left unsaid
when warm and real people
end up
dead.

IV
Unpleasant facts our forebears tried to hide
slipped sideways out;
and strong-willed faith shone through.
Lines rarely ran how we once dreamed.
Not one of us could claim the right
to be a king or queen.

V
Searching for signatures and certainty,
we’d forgotten God remembers all.
He sees every single deed;
His books record our histories—
all beginnings and all ends—
unless, of course, the blood of Jesus
washes out all marks of sin.

Boy oh boy, do we need Him.

VI
Hidden ley lines¹ flow within our cells;
they drive through modern power grids,
ignore media towers,
run over superhighways,
slide under our basements
and follow invisible paths
right across our living rooms
where Sunday’s latest news
lies in scattered papers on the floor,
waits inside our jiggling phones—
deceiving us that current news
might surprise us and be wise—
might open doors to realms unknown

—or distract us from ? What ?

From—
ardent looking for ancestral keys?²
that often yielded ghosts— ?
Elusive spirits filled our history,
that much was plain to  see.

Sin marks all frantic race from Eden
ignores the eyes of heavenly hosts.
Facts abort all family boasts.
Only truth will set us free,³
bend us toward humility.

VII
We found saints and reprob-ain’ts
had bred within our buried lines of bad.
All human blood needs cleansing;
integrity is bought
with faith in God and acts of will,
not by ancestral rank or thrill.

VIII
Sorting out the just from the unjust,
forgetting tragedies and triumphs,
dropping pedigrees and pride, ⁴
looking past the skins of white and brown,
the curl of hair,
the muscular surprise of brains or size,
all DNA but God’s⁵ began
as a single woman met a single man.

IX
We all came from Africa
and some of us have Asian eyes.
Both Charlemagne and Abraham⁶
are our fathers too.
We’re related to the Arab;
we’re related to the Jew;
go back far, far, far enough—
we’re brown and yellow, white and black—

just — like you.⁷

 

1. Ley lines are straight lines between ancient sites. Their purpose is unknown; they are on a list of earth’s mysteries.
2. A personal note on “Ardent looking for ancestral keys.” We first learned about repenting for ancestral sins in Daniel 9. Then we saw (and cried through) the “Experiencing the Father’s Embrace” DVD accounts of the late Jack Frost’s personal experience of finding freedom after repenting for his family’s history as slaveholders (shilohplace.org). Next, Paul Cox confirmed the reality of generational repentance in his book, Come Up Higher, by Paul Cox, 2010, www.aslansplace.com
3. The line “Only truth will set us free” echoes John 8:32, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
4. My husband is a direct descendant of Roger Williams, Mary Barrett Dyer and Anne Hutchinson. If you don’t recall American history, you can read about them in Wikipedia. For a while, this was a huge source of family interest, inquiry and reading. We also found indications of ancestors who were not quite so illustrious.
5. Referring to Jesus’ conception by the Holy Spirit as the only begotten Son of God.
6. Multiple sources agree that most Northern Europeans are related and can trace their ancestry back to Charlemagne. According to New England Genealogical Society and Wikipedia, my husband could document his. As my kids used to say, “Big whip— or—maybe whoopee?” Oh, Lord, make us small in our own eyes—but for the blood of your son flowing through our veins . . .
7. I’m not current on the latest findings in the discussion of our common human ancestry. My thoughts were influenced by The National Geographic Genographic Project. (See: genographic.nationalgeographic.com) indicating that human life began with common ancestors somewhere in northern Africa (whether by creation or evolution is a separate question), by reading the Bible and multicultural histories of our common descent from Noah (one surviving family after a global flood). (See “The Talk Origins Archive: Flood Stories from Around the Word” by Mark Isaak ©1996-2002, talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html).