Honoring the Dead

We have many customs and folkways for this time of year honoring our predecessors and ancestors.  Nov 1st is All Saints Day and Nov 2nd is All Souls Day.  For many, our observance of this is a time to remember loved ones who have passed, honor their memory, and grieve their passing.  So it’s a time of love, honor, and memory.  These three things help us make meaning of loss, heal wounds, and move on to make new life.  In that spirit, I offer this poem in loving memory to honor those who have passed. My prayer is that we find comfort and take courage from the witness of those who have gone before.

For Our Ancestors

As the trees make their offerings of color turning leaves

Revealing their glory in dying

Returning to the Earth to replenish the trees

So you were to me and to we

Giving us life

Becoming the ground on which to stand

The soil that grows the food

Nourishing

I feed on your strength

Nourish me in these lean and thin times

When Love is far and joy is scarce

Replenish me

Hope

That I may live a good life and die a good death

Honoring you to find honor

Remembering you to find the future