Maurer/Timm Quail Ridge UCD Student Endowment

Order Books here

Original Poems and Thoughts website

Email Frank here: frankmaurer41@gmail.com

Poems and Thoughts by Frank Maurer

Search for:   All Poems   Topics   Titles   Help

Usurpation of a Family Name opus 643

7 September 2025 1025 Hours Migration, Family, History, Politics
There was a family immigrating to the US,
Many decades ago, when Ellis Island was in vogue.
They were sitting on the hard-wooden benches,
Listening for their surname to be called out,
But which seemed never to be announced.
Suddenly a name commenced to be called--
Repeatedly.
No one responded. The seconds dragged on.
The father of the family rose and claimed that name.
Procedures evolved and the family 
Had a new name and a new nation.
Was this right or wrong?
What happened to the family who may have belatedly arrived,
Finding only that they were disqualified--
Sending them back to their nascent nation?
Were they escaping hardship or persecution?
History will never let us know.
Presently, the 'borrowing' ('thieving') family
Jokingly relates the story as a family triumph.

In these difficult political days for our country,
Would the harsh, present regime find them out,
Deporting them without a single humanitarian thought?
Again, we may never know, 
But such illegality has occurred throughout our history.