Hail to those who have gone before, our honored dead,
our grandmothers and grandfathers of ages past.
Hail to those who have given their genes, those gifts
from men and women long gone that live on in us,
and to those who have given their love and their care;
whose stories have traveled through generations;
whose deeds and choices have founded our own lives.
Hail to those who have given their work and wisdom
to the world, whose efforts have built nations and
changed the path of history, whose actions have turned
the lives of others in small but essential ways,
those leaders and warriors, thinkers and believers,
farmers and teachers, builders and inventors,
artists and healers and tellers of tales.
Hail to those who have passed from this world to the next,
to those who dwell now within the halls of Hella,
to those who inspire us, to those we recall
with love, to those who watch over us with kind eyes,
whose lives have touched us, whose tales have moved us,
whose wisdom has granted us lessons to treasure.
Hail to the ancestors! Hail to the honored dead!
