“Thoughts While Doing Family History,” Liahona, July 2021
Thoughts While Doing Family History
The author lives in Utah.
Like stars too many for the eye to grasp,
Names flow from my screen—
Elijah’s sweet galaxy!
Stark truths jump from cold numbers:
A daughter passing the veil
Twice on the same winter day,
Three sons in a row
Whose childhood laughter stopped short
Of starting school,
Two daughters who lived to marry
And feel the same aching losses repeat.
Crops that failed,
Country doctors with tireless hearts and
Meager knowledge,
Now and then a brave soul crossing to find
America.
Today I sit in warm comfort
Clicking and printing
To bring them home,
To restore lost hopes,
To turn hearts to hearts,
To answer prayers from centuries ago
Of those who dared to hope
That love is eternal,
Made so by a cup fully drained,
Now full.