LJ Idol Season 11: Week 4 - Impossible

[encrefloue]

The other day

I spoke with my grandfather-

the one

who died before my birth,

whose

voice

face

name

I don't know-

it wasn't

a conversation

so much as it was

a castigation

sieved through

the unyielding divide

of our languages

of our cultures.

My father

was one of his eight sons

and so I too

learned how to live

with one-eighth of the love

a son is due.

I didn’t learn:

why

Comments

[kittenboo]

This is really beautiful.

[encrefloue]

Thank you!

[adoptedwriter]

Grandparents are special people. What a fine tribute! Shalom!

[encrefloue]

Thank you! Shalom!

[halfshellvenus]

Beautiful, and so full of feeling and memories and nostalgia for what might-have-been but never quite was. What an amazing portrait of these four people and their influences in your life.

[encrefloue]

Thank you so much! I'm glad the power of the what-ifs could come across.

[elderwoodpixie]

I love the way you keep them all alive in your thoughts and activities. It's very beautiful.

[encrefloue]

Thank you so much!

[tonithegreat]

A perfect late October poem. I’ve been thinking of my grands lately too. This is so beautifully wistful.

[encrefloue]

Hadn't thought of it, but the timing really is appropriate. Thank you, friend! Here's to the grands.