Ancestry
									 

My DNA says Italy
Mine says Ireland

Mine says Puglia on the heel of the boot
Mine says Galway on the wild west coast

My ancestor was an olive grower with brown eyes
Mine was a fisherman with reddish hair

Mine loved wine made from full-bodied negroamaro grapes
Mine played a mean fiddle left handed and danced 
	the hornpipe

Mine owned a water buffalo and produced fine mozzarella
Mine wrangled a herd of sheep and knitted exquisite wool 		
	garments

Mine sold her olive oil and cheese at the farmer's market 
	in Bari every Tuesday
Mine sold his eels and prawns at the fish market each 	
	evening after five on the p.m.

My ancestor married at sixteen, had six children and died 
	in childbirth at age 37
Mine was tall, good looking but sadly never married 
	and was lost at sea at age 35
	
	(First published in Veils - 2020)