Joel and Elizabeth golden wedding portrait
This week at her regular poetry party at Abbey of the Arts, Christine reminds us that at this time of year we honour our ancestors, and has invited us to do so in the poetry we contribute.
I’ve been investigating my own family background on and off for a few years now, and have uncovered quite a lot of information. Above is a photograph of my great-grandparents taken in 1931 to commemorate their golden wedding. Census and other records show where my great-grandfather was born in rural Wiltshire and that he came to London as a young man.
My poem below tries to reflect both my interest in the facts of my great-grandfather’s life and my frustration that the facts do not allow me to KNOW him.
Youngest son of a poor rural family,
what made you take those steps?One hundred miles to a life in London,
in a time before cars ate distance.Was it fire in your young belly, or
too many mouths for your mother to feed?How did you meet that rather severe
young woman who became half of you?Did you think you would share fifty years?
Did you imagine eight children together?What did you like to eat? Did you smoke?
Did you enjoy your long life, or not?I want to put flesh on your bones,
emotion in your heart, thoughts in your mind.I am greedy for knowledge of you that
facts and a photograph cannot give me.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
This is such a great photo Tess, I love the expression on your great grandmother’s face. Beautiful poem too, I love the questions, the imagining, I understand the greediness well.
oh, tess. your poem captures precisely how i feel about delving into my ancestry. our family has not been one that is good at storytelling or keeping. i am lucky if we can even identify the people that appear in the few salvaged snapshots. these words speak loudly and boldy to me:
“I want to put flesh on your bones,
emotion in your heart, thoughts in your mind.
I am greedy for knowledge of you that
facts and a photograph cannot give me.”
Thank you Christine and Lucy for your comments. Because my parents were both nearly 40 when I was born, I only knew my father’s mother, and she died when I was eleven. So there was never that generation of grandparents to ask about their parents. I have however had the delight recently of discovering my cousin Paul, who lives in Sydney, Australia, and we are in email contact, helping to fill in each other’s blanks on the family tree. On the snapshot side of things, Lucy, we send each other photos from time to time asking “do you know who this is”? His mother is one of Joel and Elizabeth’s grandchildren who emigrated to Oz with her uncle. So far no relatives in Seattle though – wouldn’t that be great!!
Lovely photo! Isn’t it wonderful to have these images to remember our ancestors? I will check back with you on the 2nd!!
Thanks for visiting, forcryeye. I have so many photos, just wish I knew who they all were!
Seattle relatives would indeed be great (especially if it meant you came for a visit!) I do have ancestors from London though, so who knows, perhaps we are distant cousins Tess? xoxo C
Beautiful words Tess. And such good questions. I loved the ‘before cars ate distance’ image.