Papa
His mind won’t remember the love they shared,
holding close, kissing fingers, smelling each other.
Nature has its ways of preparing for the inevitable.
School and after-school sports and friends,
and what excites him about life will draw him away…
as it should…
as is right for a young man blossoming.
Dear grandson, I cry now for the loss that will come,
a loss only one of us will feel to the full.
Yet I know that love doesn’t cling
but rather celebrates freedom.
So my prayer is that as much as I love you now,
you may become that free as a man.
And as my love will remain, my presence, my participation
fade away, I trust that your psyche will never forget
how we loved deep and pure
as only grandparents and grandchildren can.