2001/sad

I grew up
on sad,
a foundation
of sad.
I inherited sad
instead of money,
from brothers
murdered,
daughters murdered,
families left behind.
From migration,
fortunes lost,
farms lost,
lives that peaked
young,
lives that ruptured
from necessity,
illness
drought
hardship
struggle.
That built a
legacy of sadness,
a cellular sense
of the tragic
that bound itself
to the DNA,
and lived on
without memory
of what caused
it.

10/9/01