TWAS
THE DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY!
TWAS the day before yesterday and all through the branches
NOT a name to be found, none of my ancestors.
THE Journals and Bibles were dusty and worn
WHY should we care these kinfolk are gone?
THE pictures of children and family, long ago dead
ARE scattered, crinkled, and crammed under beds.
DAD in his chair and I with a book
HAD just settled back to give the TV a look.
WHEN out on the street there arose such a clatter
I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter.
ON the way to the window I tripped with a crash
I tore open the curtains and look through the glass.
THE sun in the sky was nowhere in sight
THE clouds were so gray it could have been night.
WHEN what to my wondering eyes should appear
THE mailman with packages, letters and cards of good cheer.
THE driver was grumbling while sorting his letters
I knew in a moment things had to get better.
THE size of one letter stood out from them all
A distant cousin was asking about family, one and all.
THE names of Grandpa and Grandma, Great Grandparents, and
NEXT came my Father, my Brother, and Uncle Paul.
FROM cousins and uncles to aunts and nephews
NIECES and in-laws, just to name a few.
SO through the many journals and photos, and stuff I possess
MY search for my ancestors slowly progressed.
WHILE up the family tree I gradually climbed
MY ancestor's names I was seeking to find.
UPON that tree I have carved many a name
THE branches of which will never be the same.
THE tree is now filled with many I've found
BUT in the search for others now I am bound.
THE ancestors whose names I have written with love
THE Lord has gathered to take to His Father above.
WITH so many names yet to be carved on that tree
I have little time to waste on games and TV.
GATHERING names, photos, histories and places
REQUIRES a lot of love, patience, and God's good graces.
SOME were farmers, soldiers and such,
Mothers and Fathers who struggled much
SOME were settlers, who traveled far,
SOME adventurers who followed the stars.
SOME were rich but most were poor,
THEY came by ship, seeking more
SOME died young, others old, many their stones yet untold
I cried when I though of those brothers and sisters
FOR I am who I am, thanks to my ancestors.
MY family is but one branch on the Tree of Life
A tree that grew strong through and strife
ALONE, I'm just a bare twig or a stub
TOGETHER we build a Family Tree of Love.
Author Unknown
