Although I don’t usually post personal messages on this blog. I try to keep it focused upon the research and writing aspects of genealogy. But I decided to make a “seasonal” exception in favor of the holidays.
During the holidays, I will most miss those family members, now passed. Some years back, I wrote the following poem. I was reflecting on how much I was beginning to look like my mother and grandmother as they aged. Although my thoughts were not on family history at the time I wrote it, there is a sense of a gathering, a family reunion, whenever I research my ancestors and learn about their lives. The poem reflects that sense of reunion.
By whatever name you celebrate this season of promise, of family, and of devotion, I wish you the best of peace, love, and joy. Let us gather again, here, after the new year.
The Gathering
The body characterizes
Everything it touches,
Forming a living relic
From one’s own history.
As our origins frame us,
So our choices claim us
And we hope that the effort
Of our life’s whole design
Will triumph over imperfect parts.
That in our passing ,we leave behind
A legacy to those who, with us,
Formed sweet objects in our hearts.
