Brontë Family Poem by Freeyad Ibrahim

By Freeyad Ibrahim

The Bronte siblings were mainly
Raised by their father a clergyman, Patrick

His wife, Marie, died at 38 of Tuberculosis.
Two elder sisters, Maria and Elizabeth,
aged 34, died of Tuberculosis

Emily died just four months later,
She passed away at the age 30 of Tuberculosis.

Anne, the youngest sibling, was 29
When she died a year after Emily.
She, had Tuberculosis
In Bronte Museum there is handkerchief,
has been used by Anne Brontë,
spotted with blood from her infected lungs.

Charlotte died at 38 of Tuberculosis

The siblings had suffered from malnutrition as children
So, they had nothing but potatoes for dinner

Patrick's only son, Branwell,
He died aged 31, of Tuberculosis.

Officially…
They all suffered from Tuberculosis,

Unofficially…
They all died of grief for one another

The Brontës all died so early?
Because they spent their lives
drinking graveyard water.

Patrick Bronte, died at 84
He had outlived all his family
He outlived not only his wife (by 40 years)
but all six of his six children.


Freyad Hugo
Author, Writer
The Netherlands
October,2022