his story

I opened an old book
and read with relish
the faded words it bore
of relatives
once virile
now dead.

I felt my heart soar
as it read
of old deeds.
Sore at the inky memories
of war.

My eyes burnt
and I wanted to leave the pages
strewn on the floor,
for a magpie
to find and take
as I silently grieved

for the fathers I never knew
and the bonds of history
that tie.