The pictures there are faded.
I look upon each one
And think about the lives they lived
And everything they've done.

The starchy shirts, the Sunday best,
The dark clothes so severe.
What is that look in those quiet eyes?
Was it vision? Was it fear?

I've researched all their records:
The births, the deaths, the Wills.
I know their travels on land and sea,
Their hardships. My heart stills.

Their suffering unspeakable;
So many had to flee
From war. starvation, loss of home.
They still fought to be free.

Their travels over muddy trails,
Rough transport, cold and heat;
Food often rationed carefully,
Exhausted bodies, aching feet.

Some carved a homeland out of swamps,
Some choked on windblown dust,
Some slept in cabins where snow came in--
Persisting all in trust.

Their clothes they often made themselves,
From dawn to dusk their chores;
Nothing was wasted, all was used;
They planted, laid by stores.

They worked too hard, they died too young:
They had no luxury.
They never failed to stay the course;
And the fruits have come to me.

The hardship's not shown on their brows.
Their eyes are calm, their will;
Yes, it is history, what they did--
But it is family, still.

I think I see a glimmer there.
Those steady eyes may be
Conveying one strong message:
They did it all for me.

I think they labored all their days
To leave a legacy
Of brighter lives for those to come;
They did it all for me.

Let me be worthy of their gift.
I never want to see
A day I take for granted
What my family did for me.

Henry & Katherine (Beck) Tenwalde From Holland and Germany 1835 Settled Glandorf and Kalida, Putnam Co, Ohio Peter and Anna (Dassinger-Augustine) Seffernick Donauschwaben from the Banat, Nitzkydorf, Romania Settled in Delphos, Ohio Julia Kovarovicova Vavra Kuty, Czechoslovakia 1847-1907 Joseph and Katherine (Balint) Wavra From Kuty and Kosice, Czechoslovakia Settled in Gladwin, Michigan Cecilia (Tenwalde) Augustine died 1920 in childbirth at age 29 Buried in Highland Cemetary, Gladwin, Michigan See More About These Families

Background and Verse by
Dorothy Cecilia Augustine Acton
Original MIDI "Visions" by
Andy Klapwyk