Dear Forefather

(Genealogy)

When I found your resting place, it almost was too late,
Old tombstones they disappear, at an alarming rate,
Consecrated ground reclaimed, office blocks stand tall,
Memorials uprooted, lie against the churchyard wall,
Your name that once was chiselled and with the greatest care,
Has eroded, worn away and may soon not be there.
Monuments once beautiful, of granite or sandstone,
Marble guardian angels , they all are overgrown,
The churchyard is neglected, the weeds are tangled high.
Works of art lie broken and vandalised nearby.
No one now to mourn for you, no flowers on your grave,
Your tombstone at an angle, the ground it now concave,
Dear forefather though you lie there, you are a part of me,
You are my father and my children, my future history,
Your love lives on inside of me, you and I are one,
Your blood is running through my veins, your life it carries on.
You now will never be forgotten, no vandal can delete,
You are a leaf on my family tree, erosion I now defeat.

Main Page

Poetry Index