Family

Family


The albums of pictures are dusty
I take them all down one by one
Even the pages are musty
And the ink on the paper has run.

Carefully I look at the strangers
Here is a history of me
I tried to imagine the dangers
And hardships they all had to see.

Some stood in a group, some were sitting
It seemed that they each had their place
I guess that they thought it not fitting
To have a smile on anyone’s face.

There were beards and scuffed old work boots
Some ribbons and lace for the girls
An old bowler hat and hair oiled to the roots
Some with bonnets perched atop curls.

As I looked at each generation closely
They started to look all the same
And under each picture, well mostly
Was written in ink, just a name.

The words written there on those pages
Have blurred with the passage of time
But the name has passed down through the ages
Because; it’s the same one as mine.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2009

Poem

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Brown Avatar
August 30, 2009 at 2:22 PM
Here it is Sunday and the begining of a new week is upon us. And August is leaving us way to soon. I am enjoying reading such excellent poems today and am happy to see your poetry among them Richard. May your pen forever flow. Love, Carol
Kendrick Avatar
August 30, 2009 at 12:28 PM
It is nice to know that you carry on a family name. I was adopted and my birth certificate changed and my name changed. The name Sara stayed but I found out in the last few years that I was named for my grandmothers(biological). My middle name was dropped on the birth certificate which eliminated one of my grandmother's names but someone told my family that I had a double name and I was called that at home. I always will wonder if I had traits of my grandmothers. Keep writing. Sara
Freeman Avatar
August 30, 2009 at 11:26 AM
Just to look at old pictures, on mind level, sometimes they just seem to have no meaning. But there is a, thank God, deeper meaning to life tucked away, not visual to natural eyes, in each of the hearts, of each person in the picture. God Bless, Sincerely Moses
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