family history war future poem poetry

NO SAINTS

no saints in my family
but martyrs for their faith,
that
is a different story

and Norman knight
following William
the Conqueror across
the Channel
dealt land as a bounty
because of battle bravery
against the Anglo-
Saxon English, other
side of my family

and descendants of both sides
caught up in that war
to end wars, we barely
understand now, short-
hand signifier
for all brutal, terrible,
inhumane wars that
could have been
avoided
a flash of Serb Austro-
Hungarian rivalries,
a single, seemingly
inconsequential assassination
and the whole
world on fire

how would they have understood this
our ancestors, family
from times so distant

and now
here we are

now here we are
the tree with all its graftings
the river with all its fresh
tributaries blossoming
out
into the future

I leave it to you with so
much time before you to
quietly overlook or
begin
to care deeply

my pen
(and what it means)
finished here
for all that this is worth