A Family Story - 1914/1915

I suppose you could say that the poem I wrote about my grandparents is a love story. After all, they married in 1914 and were married until my grandfather died in, I think it was, 1967. I remember my MorMor's grief at his death. But she lived on until 1977.

This is a poem about their first year of marriage, the start of a long life together, moving from town to town because he was a Methodist minister. She wholeheartedly took on the role of minister's wife from what I could tell, mostly after the fact. 

A Family Story

So, this is the family story:

My MorMor and Grandpa spent
Their honeymoon in Germany, 1914.
A travelling fellowship let them
Travel across the world.

Then came the Great War. Somewhere
There's a post card—Russian soldiers
Being marched through Leipzig with
MorMor and Grandpa visible in the crowd.

And Grandpa went off to the Swedish
Embassy as he wasn't a US citizen yet
(his parents failed to get things finalized).
A passport issued in the form of a
Letter in English on one side, Swedish
On the other.

Maybe my Great Grandma was a bit prescient.
MorMor got to come home because
Great Grandma tucked a wedding
Invitation into her purse before they left.

Grandpa was brilliant—Phi Beta Kappa and
The first traveling fellowship from his 
Seminary. Yet, somehow, I think it was 
MorMor who was good at the details of life.  

©2019 Kathryn Samuelson

And, so started a long partnership of love and work.

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The photograph is by Andrik Langfield-Petrides and was found on unsplash.com.

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