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Open Poetry #34
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kayjay
Member Elite
since 2002-06-24
Posts 2015
Oregon

0 posted 2004-11-29 11:36 AM


Grandparents

Their faces then were gruff, but kind.
I found it hard with them to bind.
The missing teeth and wrinkled skin
Gave lie to what they held within.

I never knew that Christmas coat
Had come from one I’d termed “old goat.”
I found their presents quite enough,
But dreaded their embrace so rough.

No thought gave I to lives they’d led,
Nor whether they in war had bled.
But times there were my folks had turned
To them with pleas for help not spurned.

I didn’t know that “sterner stuff”
Came only from the really tough.
I miss their faces, long since gone,
Aware of time’s swift passage on.

My children now are grown tall;
Their children prance around us all.
Do I display the grace of age
And wisdom as their vaunted sage?

Am I the one I need to be,
Foundation strong for all to see?
I know, within, my die is cast.
To me, this mantle now has passed.



© Copyright 2004 Ken Julkowski - All Rights Reserved
Sunshine
Administrator
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since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354
Listening to every heart
1 posted 2004-11-29 11:39 AM





Thank you.

Martie
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since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049
California
2 posted 2004-11-29 11:53 AM


Ken

My children now are grown tall;
"Their children prance around us all.
Do I display the grace of age
And wisdom as their vaunted sage?

Am I the one I need to be,
Foundation strong for all to see?
I know, within, my die is cast.
To me, this mantle now has passed."

Your grace is not in gruff
but tenderness and that's enough
to let all know the twinkle there
of a good man hugging like a bear!

I loved the sentiment of this poem!  


Susan Caldwell
Member Rara Avis
since 2002-12-27
Posts 8348
Florida
3 posted 2004-11-29 12:01 PM


I miss mine too.

and I am about to become one.  

the torch keeps moving.

"cast me gently into the morning, for the night has been unkind"
~Sarah McLachlan~

Enchantress
Member Empyrean
since 2001-08-14
Posts 35113
Canada eh.
4 posted 2004-11-29 12:21 PM


Ken, your beautiful piece left me sitting here for a good ten minutes or more..
just remembering my grandparents and their unconditional love.
What happy times I had with my loving grandparents...
I only hope I am as kind and giving with my own grandchildren...
and number ten is due in February.
Heart hugs for this keeper m'friend.

~ let peace begin with me... ~

kayjay
Member Elite
since 2002-06-24
Posts 2015
Oregon
5 posted 2004-11-29 12:28 PM


Thank you all who came to call
and read my friendly post.
To those who stand as matriarchs,
it's you who matter most.
Grandfathers have their day, of course,
and I am one who knows it,
But grandmothers, as we all know, are the cookie source.  

Through rubble and trouble and dark of night
The yawn of a dawn will hasten the light

Marge Tindal
Deputy Moderator 5 ToursDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-06
Posts 42384
Florida's Foreverly Shores
6 posted 2004-11-29 01:02 PM


Ken~
I found this priceless !!!!
I can well imagine that the 'acorn didn't fall far from the tree' with your kindness of thought~

I LOVE being the 'cookie source'~ Tee- -Hee !

*Huglets*
~*Marge*~

~*When the heart grieves over what it has lost,
the spirit rejoices over what it has left.
- Sufi epigram <))><

Email noles1@totcon.com

Cloud 9
Senior Member
since 2004-11-05
Posts 980
Ca
7 posted 2004-11-29 02:19 PM


Mine too! miss them very much!! Love it
Midnitesun
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since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647
Gaia
8 posted 2004-11-29 07:37 PM


lol, those grammas are always the best cookie sources
enjoyed the write, Ken

passing shadows
Member Empyrean
since 1999-08-26
Posts 45577
displaced
9 posted 2004-11-30 05:37 AM


Ken, thanks for taking me back this morning
and making me smile

Ratleader
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Member Rara Avis
since 2003-01-23
Posts 7026
Visiting Earth on a Guest Pass
10 posted 2004-12-03 01:52 AM


Do I display the grace of age
And wisdom as their vaunted sage?

Yes.

As one who has benefitted from your wisdom and grace, I have not the slightest doubt.

~~(¸¸¸¸ºº>   ~~(¸¸¸¸ºº>  ~~(¸¸ ¸¸ºº>    ~~~(¸¸ER¸¸ºº>
______________Ratleader______________

suthern
Deputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Seraphic
since 1999-07-29
Posts 20723
Louisiana
11 posted 2004-12-03 09:50 AM


I enjoyed your poem very much... but it was your response about grandmothers being the cookie source that woke my memories. *S*

My cousin-by-birth-but-brother-of-heart and I sat on our grandmother's front porch one day... and with our only grandparent listening (and loving every bit of it *G*) we discussed the fact that we got gypped... we'd never known a grandfather and didn't really have a grandmother. *G*

Soft lap to snuggle on? Ours was bony... and we rarely saw her stopped, much less sitting. Comfort and understanding? Ours was a ole battleaxe - any complaints to her would result in more chores. Spoiling the grandkids? The worst spanking I ever got was from her... believe me... I never made the mistake of giving her reason again!!

And cookies??? Bah, what a laugh! LOL The only cookies ever to be found in Ma-Maw's house were store-bought lemon jumbles... and they were HERS, thank you very much... and one bag had to last a month... so any kid audacious enough to raid that bag got one of those aforementioned spankings! LOL

The thing of it is... every word was true... and yet... she knew and we knew that we wouldn't have traded her for the world. *S* She literally lived on a pittance... but every single grandchild got $5 from her on their birthday... every year... and there were a lot of us. And whenever parents were unavailable due to illness or work obligations, Ma-Maw was there. She raised several of her grandchildren, stayed with all of us at one time or another (nursing me through 2 bouts of pneumonia)... and in spite of the fact that she didn't fit the grandmotherly stereotype we kept hearing about, she was the pied piper to all of us... some of my earliest memories are of walking to her house... even though she lived over a mile away.

Both the grandmother and the cousin are gone now... I miss both of them so. *S*

I think you'll be following your grandparents' path well just by being yourself... and loving those grandchildren sincerely... whatever your style. *S*

Gentle Spirit
Member Patricius
since 2000-10-09
Posts 13989

12 posted 2004-12-03 10:12 AM


  beautiful!
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