I come from a farmhouse stoop at dusk,
cocooned in the comfort of grasshoppers' symphonies
and the fragrance of freshly mown hay.
 
From the mystery of a deep woods
where Chippewa Indians hunted
not so long ago.
My fingers held the proof,
the arrowheads they left for me to find,
just below the surface.
 
From pansies picked with my grandfather,
and peas shucked for my mother,
a grove of pines planted with my father,
a dog-wolf puppy bestowed by my grandmother.
 
From hardworking pioneers,
generations of westward migration;
demonstrating by their histories
how to live with drive and determination -
Catholics, Mennonites, Methodists,
veterans of all the colossal wars
since our country commenced.
 
I come from a life like a diamond,
shining with multifaceted blessings,
the only thing I needed -
a lifetime of being cherished. 


© by Carolyn Casas.
Used with the author's permission.