EMBEDDED

I'd walk for hours along the beach
to find just the stone

and I'd wonder why

then I went to Ireland

drove past the ruins of small stone houses
I knew my foremothers had lived in them
had cooked potatoes, fish and soda bread
warmed themselves by the peat fire
( I remembred the sweet, pungent smell )

lifted the stones one by one
to make stone fences to keep in
the cow and sheep

felt stones beneath their feet
as they climbed down to the sea for kelp

had gone to sleep to the surf
and wakened to the call of gulls

had conceived, birthed and died
within those stones
and chiseled stone crosses
for the loved ones' graves

I do not know their names nor their faces
but I know them
for they are embedded in me