Generation Flu

There is a spreading epidemic called the Generation Flu,
which is passed down to children and aquaintances too,
Once the disease of royalty, of peers and knights of old,
which has spread throughout the universe, it's seed to bring to fold,
It is a contagious virus with a great verocious greed,
for the tombstone and the graveyard, certificate and deed.

The victims of this virus have a great compelling urge,
to link their name into your family, there is no known purge.
They will even give you software if they find that you have none,
for they feel a dire need for this disease to be passed on,
They crave for a new surname, will search each surname list, 
to peruse each list a thousand times, lest a surname may be missed.

You will find them in a graveyard, perhaps grovelling on their knees,
seeking long forgotton surnames which they then call roots and trees.
A computer will make matters worse, they will surf the internet,
searching out those roots and trees to make this flu a greater threat.
They cannot have a conversation without the need to add,
that yesterday they found a link to great grandfather's dad.

They are happy to converse with other victims of this flu,
Will often join their ranks to search in greater groups, It's true!
They look up parish registers, they search the census years,
They talk about brick walls and of assigns and of their heirs.
As the illness progresses you will see their manner change,
You must never move their files or in their study rearrange.

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The Symptoms and Diagnosis

A faraway look, consentration, blank expression, aggravation,
A truly morbid facination, for graveyard jaunts as recreation,
There is no known cure for the generation virus,
with it's roots in the past with the pharoahs and papyrus,
The disease is not fatal but the symptoms will get worse,
Give the patient a quiet room, there is no need to nurse.

 
© March 2001
 Carole A.M. Johnson