Question Me Now, My children <br /> <br />Ask questions of me, my children <br />For time has a way… <br />Of slipping through fingers <br />Like reapers through hay <br /> <br />Your heritage is a treasure <br />That one day you’ll have need <br /> Questions in need of answers <br />And no answers to heed <br /> <br />Was your great grandfather <br />A brown-eyed lad <br />Was your great grandmother <br />Perhaps a little bit mad <br /> <br />Ask about your ancestry <br />So interesting and rich <br />Was great aunt Sarah just an ol’ maid… <br />Or was she really a witch <br /> <br />How did they live the course of their day <br />And how the difference from yours <br />You live in a city, in a modern way <br />Perhaps they lived in the moors <br /> <br />How did your father meet your mother <br />What was their courtship like <br />And did grandmaw, elope with grandpaw <br />Did cousin Jenny marry up with uncle Mike <br /> <br />Did great-great grandmaw come from Ireland <br />Was her name “Whalen” changed from “Whelan” <br />By careless and lazy immigration officials <br />At a bustling and confusing, Ellis Island <br /> <br />Did these people bite their fingernails <br />Have a wart on their nose <br />Have children die prematurely <br />Enjoy happiness, suffer woe <br /> <br />Question me now, my children <br />For I get older, soon will come my time to go <br />And ‘twill be too late and ‘sadly twill be your fate <br />Of your rich heritage to ne’er know <br /> <br /> <br />Ask questions of me, my children <br />Before time takes me to task <br />Else when and what you wish to know <br />There will no one to ask<br /><br />David Whalen<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/question-me-now-my-children/
