Should I look into family history
And find my ancestors’ story
Will I be surprised by what they have done
Or be happy for what they had won
Perhaps some were convicts transported
And ended up on these shores prison escorted
I know there are Irish roots
Who left Eire when it was poverty and starvation to boot
And some others who came from Posen in Germany
To escape religious repression in this country
But still there may be some black sheep
Whose deeds would be unlawfully complete
For in any family there will be
These people who now be a smile to my face to see.
© Paul Warren Poetry
My maternal grandfather’s name was Gleissert
A German name from the town of Posen in Prussia
They had come to South Australia
For religious freedom in the 19th Century
I have just found out what they put up with
In The Great War and the Second World War
They were pointed out as enemy aliens
And questioned as their loyalty to Australia
I remember my mother saying that
She was taken out to the front
Of her classroom by her teacher
And paraded as a person with a German name
She said that she cried when it occurred
The teacher had delighted in her embarrassment
This occurred when her only brother
Was wearing the uniform of the Australian army
People have their reasons I suppose for doing these things
But I wonder how this sort of thing
Was patriotic in its call and what these people thought
When they were Australian by choice.
© Paul Warren Poetry
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