The first snow has fallen in Wisconsin
Lake water is shelving into ice
Warmer clothes are rescued from the cupboard
Defence against the coming winter’s vice
This news comes here to me in sunny Scotland
Still basking in a warm November breeze
Carried through the ether from my cousin
Across the pond and America’s big freeze
I have found myself a late and lovely friend
A cousin not long lost just never known
The son of the son of Ellen granddad’s sister
Gone to America never to come home
We’ve talked by text exchanged so many stories
Filling in great gaps of lives unknown
And discovering simple things about each other
Writing I find better than the phone
Reclaiming long lost stories is a treasure
To gather up the people who belong
And to make a new connection in so doing
Means a family can forever sing the song
Brian Fahy
17 November 2021
Erris Poetry 