Heritage

I retain within me immense power

Generated from a line of ancestors

Women who lived to be a hundred

And led their lives beautifully

Their wisdom is mine to call upon

If I only pause to listen,

It is in the silences between words uttered

It is in the speech of the elders

Who were women of grace

And showed the way

A long line of matriarchs

Impressive, like the great banyans

That spread their roots

And provided shelter to their families.