Question Me Now, My children
Ask questions of me, my children
For time has a way…
Of slipping through fingers
Like reapers through hay
Your heritage is a treasure
That one day you’ll have need
Questions in need of answers
And no answers to heed
Was your great grandfather
A brown-eyed lad
Was your great grandmother
Perhaps a little bit mad
Ask about your ancestry
So interesting and rich
Was great aunt Sarah just an ol’ maid…
Or was she really a witch
How did they live the course of their day
And how the difference from yours
You live in a city, in a modern way
Perhaps they lived in the moors
How did your father meet your mother
What was their courtship like
And did grandmaw, elope with grandpaw
Did cousin Jenny marry up with uncle Mike
Did great-great grandmaw come from Ireland
Was her name “Whalen” changed from “Whelan”
By careless and lazy immigration officials
At a bustling and confusing, Ellis Island
Did these people bite their fingernails
Have a wart on their nose
Have children die prematurely
Enjoy happiness, suffer woe
Question me now, my children
For I get older, soon will come my time to go
And ‘twill be too late and ‘sadly twill be your fate
Of your rich heritage to ne’er know
Ask questions of me, my children
Before time takes me to task
Else when and what you wish to know
There will no one to ask
Wow! This was particularly interesting to me as I am a family history researcher. Please write down your legacy, because there will come a time when they will want to know the INTIMATE details that are not research-able on line. It will be so sad for them that they may have taken it all for granted in their youth. I love everything about this poem especially the title. Thank you for sharing it.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
An amazing poem, David. I've always been interested in my family's history and was able to determine much - just by asking. Yet, sadly, some important information was taken to the grave with some of the older hands, simply because I didn't act in time. PS: I am called the family historian. Thank you for this golden piece, and keep writing. Voted 10