The Ties That Bind

It’s been another momentous week. Our first family visitors of the year since autumn 2019. And the first ever visit, initially planned two years ago, from my younger niece, her husband and their three-year-old son whom we had previously met on barely three or four occasions and then only briefly. But with so much lost time to be made up for, there was little time for putting pen to paper. So after a couple of days’ pause for thought, here are some reflections on a special week expressed in seven haiku.

This time burnishing
The golden bonds of kinship
That time can’t loosen

Poignancy made flesh
My late sister’s first grandchild
Whom she never met

Rediscovering
My inner child by skipping
With my great-nephew

The left-handed gene
Passing through time and linking
Five generations

Photo albums that
Open windows to the past
And wounds yet to heal

Sharing memories
Anchoring me to my past
Aunt, niece, sister, mum

Making memories
Investing in the future
Great-aunt, great-nephew