Family Stories Recited

SINS OF THE FATHER Just a maid,just sixteen,a serving girl , a go-between upstairs and downstairs, her scene 'til love was to intervene; She,so young,he,the master' son a web of attraction, begun one rainy afternon,in June;A familiar tale,oft told of one so shy,the other bold,an affair one hot summer long, where despair does conclude my song;A baby came the next Spring but he sans a wedding ring left for the Great War ,the wench, the babyboth shown the door;In action, the teenage swain died, the lass,with bairn,cried and cried ,their kin,his family with conscience money salved their pride; NEVER TO RETURN He went to be a soldier one cold and wintry Spring,dying for a noble cause that all then believed in;The lilac was just budding when news of him was sent, her last letter returned marked ' killed in action' described ,the honeymoon they’d spent; feeling the kicking baby within , Gran wept and cried ,that April day,dear Granpa died. NAN So sad,full of care the face of nan, life,lines her beauty so fair- this girl full of care, this face of love 'cross memory's chasm I now stare; And sadness hide- For youthfulness we cannot share apart by kin's time-line divide THE LEGACY In circumstances unknown she left this world alone; ‘neath the fast flowing Ouse- we judge not nor accuse! This lovely wife of thirty-one whose beauty does transfix and stun; dying in circumstance unknown- leaving husband,daughter bereft,alone! Heartbroken,distraught he searched in weather, bitter and cold; ‘til a final illness took hold-- family tragedy again made,manifold! Orphan Lily wept alone,just five with now no family home;The Great War just begun-her tiny world,undone! Circumstances unclear,unknown, Frances left this world alone;her legacy though lingers long,in looks,of grand daughters of my song You may care to listen to me reciting these poems on youtube under the name ichthyschiro