Memories of Nancy Rising Out of the Ashes of the Fires

"I know that she, if alive, would be destroyed inside..." Poetry by Ernie McCray

The raging fire
in Pacific Palisades
darkens my soul
as it’s part of me,
the home of Nancy
my very dearly departed soulmate,
the mother of three of my six children.
I know that she,
if alive,
would be destroyed inside,
viewing an inferno, miles wide,
leaving her old neighborhood
burning away
in its wake.
 
And, as I wallow in the tragedy of it all,
images rise in my mind
like ashes from the fires
of the times we had in her hometown
when we visited her folks,
cruising on the Pacific Highway,
dining at some exquisitely fine cafes,
every now and then seeing a celebrity or two,
kicking back, near the top of the hill,
above a canyon quiet and still,
enjoying the wonderful ocean view,
affluence surrounding you,
a setting I wasn’t used to
based on my humble upbringing
on the northside of Tucson,
a hood
full of folks who, in comparison
to Nancy’s neighbors,
didn’t have a penny to their name.
 
But I love from whence I came
and these memories
remind me
that no matter who we are,
or what our circumstances are,
we’re basically the same,
and both Nancy’s and my community
put us on a path
towards each other
as both of us have undertaken the role of
doers and changemakers all our lives,
enjoying the support provided by mentors in our lives
who energized our penchant for activism,
she having resided
next door to Charles Seeger,
folk singer Pete Seeger’s father,
who encouraged her to think broadly
with an open mind
as she contributes to her times,
and she went about it
with a kind of hippie-style
and just from living among folks
who were struggling just to get by,
I got the itch
to want to, for humanity’s betterment,
shake things up a bit.
When we joined our lives together
we were a perfect fit.
 
So, as I shudder
from the continuing news of the fiery tragedies
in LA,
I have to say
a little girl grew into a wonderfully beautiful woman
in a breathtaking community called
Pacific Palisades.
 
I hope it can be remade. 

Ernie McCray is an activist for love and peace who acts and sings and writes both poetry and prose, a man who rises each day to do whatever he can, no matter how small or grand, to make the world better in some way.

Unapologetically.