image by Sue Vincent
Inspired by Sue Vincent’s #writephoto prompt.
And by my DNA results from Ancestry.com
Ancestral Portals
Infinite portals illuminate the hollows
of forgotten origins, lost migrations
my fingers sift through foreign sands
seek the spirals of phantom generations
I wander the helices’ halls of time
and stir ancestral dust
I am of the taiga’s endless twilights
ribbons of color on midnight snow
a land of trolls and crescent cliffs
of the highlands’ merlin and castle ruins
from heathered moors to seaside charm
legends of stone and spring, an Avalon king
I journeyed with giants through emerald hills
by sacred rowans and fairy wells
where Eirinn’s magic veil lay thin
I am of wooden shoes and stepped roofs
creaks of windmills over tulip fields
a place of dikes and storms restrained
of Aegean’s islands and sun-bleached shores
a pantheon of gods where the acropolis soared
and Odysseus sailed through Homer’s tales
I hail from bullrings and faith and flamenco
terracotta rooftops scaling the hills
where towered cathedrals pierce the sky
I am of the crossroads of trade routes
temples, mosques and fairy chimneys
a chiseled warren of underground cities
of endless beaches and mangrove forests
tea gardens embroidering hills of jade
rickshaws, sampans, and floating markets
I lived by golden mountains and volcanic waters
an icy wilderness of pillars and geysers
clouded in the City of the Dead
Through ancestral portals ancient mothers
threaded strands of mitochondrial pearls
protozoa and bacteria, single-celled organisms
beyond the Earth and sun’s formations
I trailed my fingerprints
to the dust of stars
Myths of the Mirror 
Oh, Diana. Thanks for leading me deep into your archives for this. Not only beautifully written, I appreciate how who took seemingly simple facts from a DNA test and weaved them into a wonderful poem. Not only did I love the physical journey, but the way you linked yourself to DNA and early life forms is brilliant. Love it! … .and once again, thank you!
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I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Frank. The poem feels personal to me. I took every DNA location from the results and pathed my ancestors’ migration across continents. But you’re right that I went back to the start of life. You and I are the result of millions of years of successful evolution and the survival of generations of ancestors. It feels like a miracle that we are here at all. 🙂 🙂
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It should feel personal because it is. But just as important, the connection piece expands the thought to all of us in a special way.
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🙂
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Amazing: In a mere five stanzas, you created a fully realized world unto itself, Diana. Some people write entire novels and can’t achieve that. You are a credit to the fantasy genre.
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My family has done a lot of genealogy and we have records back about 500 years or so, but… DNA goes back thousands of years. So much of my genetic make up was a surprise (Turkey, Greece, Spain, Bangladesh). I was left imagining how over the millennia my ancestors migrated across continents. It was so cool. Now I want to visit those places. 🙂
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It’s stunning! I enjoyed reading it! I had always been curious about my ancestors, wondering about their lives
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Thanks so much for reading, Deborah. I have some family tree history going back about 500 years, but the DNA goes back thousands! There were so many surprises. It was definitely fun to muse and imagine how they migrated and intermixed across Europe and Asia. It was definitely worthwhile to have my spit tested! Ha ha. Thanks for reading!
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It sounds like an amazing experience =) I think I will do the same too, one day! I’m way too curious to not try it out. You’re welcome!
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Great piece, Diana. It seems with DNA testing more people are wanting to know where their ancestors came from. I loved the way you worked the different parts of the world in. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Thanks, Suzanne. There were so many surprises. We’ve traced our family back to the British Isles, but DNA goes back thousands of years and I got a sense of my ancestors migrations. Thanks so much for reading. 🙂
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Diana it was good to bring up something about who were our ancestors, how they lived, and died.
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Thanks, Juli. The image made me think of doorways and the long string of ancestors in my past. I did a lot of musing about the places they lived. I’m glad you enjoyed the poem! ❤
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Awesome poem! It’s fascinating to know where your ancestors lived and died. I’ve done quite a bit of ancestry research, need to have my DNA tested.
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There were so many surprises when the results came back. We’ve tracked our ancestors to the 1600’s, but DNA goes back thousands of years! It was so interesting then to think about how my ancestors wandered across the continents. I hope you give it a try. 🙂
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Reblogged this on Lyn Horner's Corner and commented:
Beautiful poem of times and places pat!
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Thanks for sharing, Lynn. The prompt made with think of doorways and my recent DNA results fit nicely into a wander through time. I’m so glad you enjoyed the poem. 🙂
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