PACAMBRI-L Archives

From: "P. Gary Burkett" <>
Subject: [PACAMBRI] Who They Were...
Date: Sat, 05 Feb 2000 14:47:04 -0500

This weekends on going conversation is what genealogy is supposed to be
all about.
I saved this message from last February on the Bedford County page.
VelvetCat2 passed it along then and I want to put it out for those on
Cambria County's page who may not have seen it.
"I received the following little 'poem' from a friend who types this on
a 3x5 card then puts her name, relationship, snail-mail address and
e-mail address on the back, then laminates it, punches a hole in it and
ties it to a single stem artificial flower and puts it on her ancestor's
graves when she is visiting cemeteries whether those close by or in
different states. That way the next person who might be researching may
get in touch with her." What a great idea....
Dear Ancestor:
Your tombstone stands among the rest;
Neglected and alone.
The name and date are chiseled out
On polished, marbled stone
It reaches out to all who care
It is to late to mourn.
You did not know that I exist
You died and I was born.
Yet each of us are cells of you
In flesh, in blood, in bone.
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse
Entirely not our own.
Dear Ancestor, the place you filled
So many years ago
Spreads out among the ones you left
Who would have loved you so.
I wonder if you lived and loved,
I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot,
And come visit you.

Taking care of my grandparent's, great-grandparent's and
grgreatgrandfather's grave sites in Grandview Cemetery for over thirty
years I often had these very thoughts.

P. Gary Burkett

This thread:

• [PACAMBRI] Who They Were... by "P. Gary Burkett" <>