This number has been disconnected

My Grandfather and I have been playing cribbage regularly for many years...since I was a young boy. I wrote this piece after I tried to play a game of cribbage with my Grandfather on the computer. He was never terribly good at working with the computer, so I would call him and walk him through getting everything set up. I knew he would pass soon, and I told myself I would play a game of cribbage every weekend. It wasn't always convenient, and so I would forget often. I missed out on so much time with him, because it wasn't convenient to set aside the time. This is my regret.

While trying to walk him through the setup, my phone battery was dying. It was at this moment that I realized how fragile the time I had left with him was...that is where this poem came from. I wrote it, and the short message below, before he died. I was given the opportunity to read the message at his funeral. Please, for both the young and the old, try to realize how precious time is...especially with your loved ones.

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To those who may think they are forgotten:

Do not be disappointed in those you leave behind. They love, respect, and honor you more then you will ever know. Even in your many years, you cannot grasp the appreciation and emotions felt toward you by your family and friends. We may not know how to show it...or realize how precious and rare the remaining time is...but that does not change how important you are, have been, and will be after you pass on. You have affected so many lives, your personality and principles are magnified a thousand times in those left behind. You will live on, through us. That is your legacy, your immortality, and your ultimate accomplishment.

Thank you.

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Overwhelmed with emotion
I set my pen to work

*Ring*

If I could only capture these moments
I would embrace them forever.

*Ring*

Why is it too late
When we realize the truth?

*Ring*

I can't believe I've been so ignorant.

*Ring*

The world keeps on turning,
Time forever onward
Nobody escapes from this end.

If I could just hold on
To the memories of the past
Would the future not frighten me so?

Grandpa, where will you go?

On the phone, I wait
The battery is almost dead.

*Ring*

Please, PLEASE, connect.
Just to hear your voice
Is all that I ask
Is it so much?

*Ring*

I've ignored my feelings
What I've known was right.
The battery is almost dead.

*Ring*

Grandpa, why won't you pick up?
Where did you go?

Grandpa, why won't you pick up?