Who Are You? Poem by roy may

Who are you? . And where are you from? . The document enquired
I was not in the mood for this for I was feeling tired
The first bit was quite easy, as I simply wrote my name
The second part I found I couldn’t answer quite the same
Of course I could have simply written down my home address
Yet where I really came from well, I couldn’t even guess
I knew who my Mum and Dad were, I even knew my Gran
So now I started wondering how it all began

Now when the earth was forming at the very start of time
All of us were microbes in some thick primeval slime
Some of these small microbes but only just by luck
Developed into creatures and staggered from the muck
Survival then took over as there was no master plan
Eventually these microbes had developed into Man

Then did some ardent caveman feel some overpowering need
To club some luckless cave girl into whom to sow his seed?
Why did she love his offspring and help it to survive?
Well if she had not bothered then I might not be alive
This applies to all of us, I know it may sound queer
By pure circumstantial chance all of us are here

Just who are our ancestors who’s gene bank do we own?
Were they men of consequence or somebody unknown?
They could be despot leaders that other nations feared
Or perhaps just men of God that everyone revered
We know that history tells us tales of love and war and crime
So someone’s ancient ancestors were present at the time


Was it your relation, or mine? I just don’t know
Who thought that noise would crush the walls of ancient Jericho
Someone fought for Ghengis Khan and someone else sacked Rome
Are these folks descendants sitting with me now at home?
And who was it who was the cause of Greek and Roman wars?
Was it my relation or was it one of yours?

Did relations fight at Agincourt or fight on Bosworth Field?
Or did they fight at Naseby where Cromwell made them yield?
Perhaps they fought for Cromwell and for Fairfax on the day
There is no way of knowing so I really cannot say
They executed Queens and Kings there really is no end
Someone did all of these things and from them we descend

To all this speculation we should maybe call a halt
For as direct descendants others may think it’s our fault
Sometime in the future it may possibly be proved
My Great Grandpa did all this fifty times removed
So if some nosy parker should enquire from whence I came
I’ll just say 'I have no idea' in case I get the blame! .