I’m from the water of the Earth,
The paradoxes and contradictions of sense and spirit,
I’m from the love of life,
A passion undying for the joy of life—
I’m from the books and ancient fantasies of dragons and myths,

from the musty tomes of Harry Potter to the clean, monotonous volumes of theology
I’m from hours of reading the theologies, philosophies, and fluid literature,
To the ultimate theses of religions and faiths,
From the nostalgic times where we were so innocent
and ran past those golden trees of maple leaves,
from the innocent blooming of prosperous spring life,

I’m from the colors of Life,
Their pigments forever moving into art, images of grace, beauty and symbolism,

I’m from great moments of history, from Humanity itself,
I’m from myself, from the fruit of Life, the Grace of God,
I’m from those ancient novels of Roman legends,
From the beautiful Venus, to the powerful hand of Poseidon,
From ancient Romans to the Ottomans and the Jews,
I’m from the pristine mind of Adam and Eve,
To the perverted soul of the obstinate Lucifer,
I’m from life itself, the vast expanses of the Universe,
To the Andromeda, to the Sombrero galaxies to the Seyfert’s Sextet,
I’m from incompetency to pride,
From idiocy and failure and ugliness to poetic beauty,

From the ancient worshipped intellectuals of Buddha and Confucius,
I’m from Happiness to Joy,
To Refinement and Intellectual appeal,
To the love for all in the life,
To the nostalgic smells and tones,
To the jazzy blends of classical and jazzette quartets,
And the sextets of life,
and the Sevens of life,
I’m from Chicago and Shanghai,
From San Leandro and nostalgia,
to life and to death,
To faith and to persistency,
To Jesus, Muhammad, Abraham, David, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther, Winston Churchill,
From the very roots, to love, to passions, to Life.

And yet, confined within the dark spaces of closets are the last of my past.
From ancient photos of my childhood,
The great pieces of demented art,
Untouched poetry of past inspirations,
Dead ideas and thoughts,
I am from all that,
And more,
I am from the last of the final of the family tree.