Genealogy Chat

Dear Ancestor --

Your tombstone stands among the rest;
Neglected and alone
The name and date are chiseled out
On polished, marble stone
It reaches out to all who care
It is too late to mourn
You did not know that I exist
You died and I was born.
Yet each of us are cells of you
In flesh, in blood, in bone.
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse
Entirely not our own.
Dear Ancestor, the place you filled
One hundred years ago
Spreads out among the ones you left
Who would have loved you so.
I wonder if you lived and loved,
I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot,
And come to visit you.

Written by: Walter Butler Palmer (1868-1932)

Isn't that beautiful? It brought tears to my eyes. Thank you, Mary.

That is a wonderfully poignant poem, never come across it before.

One of the reasons I take genealogy so seriously is to keep names alive for those that remain.

This poem says it all

Thank you so much Mary

So glad someone liked it, it made me cry when i read it

,Last year i asked for help to find my grand aunt Bridget Roche, who died in Pawtucket USA a year after she arrived there from Preston,
Kind people found me her passenger list and 2 weeks ago (still digging !) i found an obit in a newspaper, that said she had worked at Slater Mill. (which is now a museum ) and was well liked because of her pleasant manner.
thanks to help from on here, Bridget is REAL for my cousin and i. x

hi mary
this poem is so lovely
it says it all
i just wish i could find out where some of mine are buried
lorraine