My grand-niece Genevieve, named for my mother,
laughed as we played on the living room rug.
I hope Mom was laughing as she heard her name repeated,
“Genevieve! Genevieve! Fly! Fly!”

My two year old grand-niece kneed me in my balls
as she leaped to me from the floor.
I wonder if Mom was laughing as I moaned on the carpet.

Such are the joys and dangers of family life.
Pleasure and pain and frivolity passed on day to day,
echoing through the generations,
into now from then.