17. Blood [100 poems challenge]

17.          Blood

A miner whose quest for copper
Was thwarted by tragedy;
A woman who moved half a world
And lost three of her sixteen children;
A Scout leader whose half-century
Of service turned boys into men;
A teacher whose students never forgot her,
Who made music possible;
A boatman, a shoemaker;
A carriage builder, a nurse and a housemaid;
A poet whose verses gave voice
To his joy in a great-grandson;
A convict transported for possessing
Thousands of blood-red beetles;
A lady who celebrated each day’s surprises,
Her hands shaped like mine are becoming.

They are in me;
I am them.

6-7 May 2013

Comments: As it happens, I wrote (most of) this on my birthday. It seems apt, though I wasn’t aware of this aptness at the time. These are some of my ancestors two or more generations removed from me (so, grandparents and beyond).

Themes to come: 18. Rainbow; 19. Grey; 20. Fortitude; 21. Vacation; 22. Nature

Explanation about the 100 poems challenge here.