grandad

monkey33

i know that we will meet again,
but here are my thoughts until then.
you've tought me and cared for me in so many ways,
in my life you won't be replaced.
as with time our lives must end,
and in you i've lost not only a grandfaher but a best friend.

FinsburyParkCarrots

Thank you for your moving poem. Makes me want to write one to for my grandad, "Da".


White thick hair like mine will be,
a long kindly head,
little face whiskers brushed with a comb,
Eyes smiling through their poor cataracts,
a proud chin like my mother's,
a clean white shirt tied to the top button
and a white v-neck sweater
and long hands dwarfing mine, held in his fingers.
Grandad liked to sit in his wooden chair with the soft cushions
under the back window, beside the open stove,
the light making halos around him.
He had a 'thirties box wireless on top of the press
next to him,
and though he couldn't see, he'd work the knobs and dials
and find the News, and wipe his face with his hanky,
shaking his head to news of another Nothern bombing.
He'd fought for de Valera in the Civil War
but this wasn't his conflict, his Cause,
No no, not this, dear God.
When he died his coffin was six foot six
and the Boys wanted to come down from Antrim
and fire shots over him, their hero.
They were turned away
at a dying wish for peace
and no guns were fired over the white thick hair like mine will be
or the long kindly head
or the face that looked so much younger than ninety
clean shaven in his box.

sultryevening

a very good piece monkey- i like that its hopefull
and Finsbury yours was so detailed- v well written. im sure theyd both be proud.

as i hope mine is.



Two loney trumpeters
sounded his passing
their notes filling the church hall
as the family wept for the old storyteller.

he went as he lived his life
proud and strong.

his garden still grows strong
with the love that he nurtured.

a fitting tribute,
white roses thrown,
no dust.

too many toasts
I drank to him
but it still seemed never enough.

So to him Ill make a place
a climbing tree to cover my home.
to let my flowers love the sun.
As he always did.

monkey33

thanx 4 ur compliments. both of ur poems were very moving. i'm not really into writing poetry, i never eally thought i had the heart. but after my grandad passed something stirred inside me. i haven't wrote very much, only when it comes to me. there's only a few i have written, but i don't know what people would think of an novice posting on here. they're pretty crap. then again, i mite just.

FinsburyParkCarrots

As I say, it was reading your poem that moved and inspired me to write mine. As I feel it, you do have a gift at writing direct expressions of what's in your heart, and your work connects with other people. I can only speak for myself of course, but I for one look forward to reading more of your poems on here.

monkey33

thanks. i really do appreciate it. i wish i had brought the others i wrote with me 2 uni coz i would have posted them. there's always tomorrow, i guess, unless i try and write one now