Like a seal of approval on a royal decree

so family life appeared to be

the order of things as if compleat

has for centuries been the way it is.

Even in struggles blood ties remained

when disunited

they would search for their kith and kin

long after death

ancestral research would still be laboured

the family ties

it's roots

were so intrinsict.

Yet like a creature so becomes extinct

the family faces a similar decline,

names excluded from birth certificates

one parent families

that have multipal lines

children leave home

never return

parents die

all trace gone.

We live in times

when normal has flown

the family structure

is fragile forlorn,

like a runner in a marathon

there is the urge to push on

but if truth would have it known

the sell by date is almost gone.

Uncertain days lie ahead

the family has exploded

become a myth,

the way it was

like a faded photograph

a telescope pointed

to a far distant star.