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
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem