To Martin

'Martin', she said and I had always thought

Of you as William, presumably because

That was my granddad's name, and it was

The first that came to mind, as if it ought

To have ancestral links even though

Neither of us have.  In the genealogical groups

That Dad had found, back to our Yorkshire roots

Before the Armada, not a single Tony

Or a Brian, and then, out of the blue

Your name appeared, unlinked to any other

In our past, but suddenly I've a brother

- Long thought lost - the one I never knew.

          How strange that after sixty years, you are more

          Real to me today than ever before.

Brian Hick 2009

©copyright Sally Hick 8.7.22