My Ancestress

You are my past,
were someone else's future.
Your deep, wide eyes hold knowledge
I fear to gain. Give me heart to learn
your suffered experience, to hear clearly
your life's story. My woman's narrative
is nothing if you are erased, denied
by my closed ears. Without you
I will float, unmoored, downriver
be sucked into whirlpools.
Herstory, Ourstory will be
subverted by History
and I will lose you
time and time
again.