My Grandfather's Hands
My Gramps' hands
They held me tight
The day that I was born
I'm told he sang a lullaby and drew me close and warm
Picking fruit in the back garden
And bike rides 'round the block
His hands would clean a scrape or cut
Soothe when I took a knock
When my plaster cast came off
His hands stretched out to steady
He said, "Move forward slowly girl, step when you are ready..."
Gramps' hands provided
A light mid-afternoon snack:
Half a dumpie guava juice
And Flanagans crisps - green pack
To keep school extra-mural dates
He'd help pick up the pace
He'd call me Desperado and carry my violin case
Gramps' hands would give me
A sturdy birthday shake
He'd say, "Another year older...Now behave for heaven's sake!"
And as I walked the aisle that day
And his hand just brushed past mine
I had no doubt of his love for us
As sure as the sun would shine!
And when he took our baby girl
So gently in his care
My heart was filled with joy and thanks
That in her life he'd share
And then last week my Gramps' hands suddenly went still
They were placed across his chest
Pale, with a chill
Of this I'm sure, his hands, I know
Won't always be this way
Those gentle hands - so tan and strong
Will live again one day.
Due to the fact that we celebrated Jorja's birthday with the Weber and Wilcox families in the UK last year - over a few days and in various styles - we were a bit out of practice. In fact, if Jorja had not brought it to my attention with just two weeks to spare, I must confess that I would not have expected it to arrive for another few more weeks! But Moms could never let that seem to be the case, so we got cracking on 5th birthday celebration arrangements... On the night before, I set out every baking ingredient, apparatus and accessory that I could find and hoped that we would make it work! Aunty Robyn and Aunty Ilana arrived just in time to help us bake off the first round of vanilla cake pops and cookies with sprinkles. At this point, there was no turning back, our kitchen was already in a state of bake! The biscuit batch baked beautifully (and bountifully) and Jorja was well pleased with her assisted effort. As she head to bed on the eve of her birthday, I popped the...
Beautiful! You know just how to put the words together.
ReplyDeleteAh man, I wanted to put your poem on my blog! :)
ReplyDeleteThis truly represents 'la vida de Sakkie comos los vemos'. Thanks Ash. There are tears: but they're smiley tears because this is gramps as we remember him. Thanks.
ReplyDelete