Thursday, November 24, 2011

Any way you spell it...

The Rhyne Men

Rhine Legacy

Dying embers...
One by one my family
Is flickering out.
For twelve score
Years we have lived
In the fertile valley
Of the South Fork...
Another score,
More or less,
And this line will be
Broken, leaving other
Branches to carry on
The legacy of Jacob,
Whose very name
Marked him as
A child of rivers.

Jacob Fork River...it and the Henry meet to form the South Fork of the Catawba River, near which my ancestor, Jacob Rein, from the Upper Rhine region, settled around 1760.

5 comments:

The Bug said...

Powerful & poignant. I'm glad I got one of the Rhyne men for my very own.

Kimberly Mason said...

Love, love, LOVE the photo!! It's a classic.

Catalyst said...

Looks like three men enjoying the sunlight (maybe after a filling meal?).

NCmountainwoman said...

You have captured so well exactly how I feel as I grow older. Bug had it right...it is both powerful and poignant. Thanks for once again putting the words together so beautifully.

Carolina Linthead said...

Kind of slipped past me, but this was my 100th post on the blog...thank you and bless you, friends of Child of a Frosty Morning!