A Light for the Memories

I miss the man he was
When I was just a child
The carefree times we shared
With a spirit so free and wild

He opened a whole new world
To this girl’s young eyes
Climbing trees until the sun set
Sharing stories while gazing at the skies

Playful rough-housing
In the living room floor
Something so simple
Overjoyed me to the core

A tasty bite of butterscotch
And a giggle on the stoop
Perhaps we’d take a trip to the blackberry patch
Just behind the chicken coop

But time marches forward
And we both grew older
Things would never be the same again
Our lives waxed dim and colder

I watched him fade away
As time’s ugly hand gripped ever tighter
It was so hard to watch his struggle
Losing a man I always knew to be fighter

The call came one night
A night I’ll never lose
He was slipping ever faster
Life or death was God’s to choose

I got to his side
Only moments too late
His soul had already departed
He was knocking at Heaven’s gate

In all my grief I paused
I looked back through photos and saw
The angel God sent down from His side
To look after me and be my grandpa

08.02.07