MY FAMILY TREE

(or the plight of a genealogist)

I think that I shall never see

A thing just like my family tree.

It grows and grows and grows again

I think I've got it all and then

I get another name or date

And then again it's going great.

I sit and read and write and mail

And then I find one more detail.

A cousin here, another there

It's growing but I know not where.

I write and write and then I wait

Until I get another date

Or maybe just another name

To start this process once again.
I write New Zealand, also France.

I find some Uncles and some Aunts.

These tree roots seem to spread and spread.

Some are alive, and some are dead.

I write to Britain, then to Aus.

Any place to help the cause.

I write to people I've not met.

I hope to get an answer, yet

The more I get, the more I write.

I'm at it all the day and night.

I don't have time to sleep or eat.

The cold can't stop me nor the heat.

The hours I've spent, the things I've read,

Go round and round inside my head.

There are so many bits and pieces

I'm sure that I could write a thesis.

I've found Great Uncles, Aunts and Cousins.

How many more, there must be dozens.

I write and file and write some more.

So many letters, I've lost score.

Yet, still I write and stamp and mail,

Just waiting for that last detail.

I'm sure that I shall never see

The end to this, my family tree.