Countries of Passage

My ancestors started out
in Africa--
yours did, too.
Egypt,
the Fertile Crescent,
and on to Europe,
wave after wave,
for thousands of years,
The Ukraine,
Russia,
Finland,
Sweden,
Germany,
England,
Scotland,
Ireland,
North and South America.
These, who went west,
met at last
those who had gone east.
The meeting
wasn't pretty.
Sometimes we forget
that we are only
passing through.

Donald Jacobson Traxler
Oct. 6 2018