Hello list, I thought this poem appropriate to send. It was on the Order of Service for the Ecumenical Service at the Back to Rupanyup celebrations in October 2000. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. Regards, Ruth Mingins. Dearest Ancestor Your tombstone stands among the rest Neglected and alone. The name and date are chiselled out On polished marble stone. It reaches out to all who care It is too late to mourn. You did not know that I exist You died when I was born. Yet each of us are cells of you In flesh, in blood, in bone. Our blood contracts and beats a pulse Entirely not our own. Dear Ancestor, the place you filled So many years ago Spreads out among the ones you left Who would have loved you so. I wonder if you lived a life of love, I wonder if you knew That someday I would find this spot, And come and visit you.