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Thursday, April 22, 2021

To Maggie When Grandpa is Gone

Make it April when you and your mumma 
come back to explore her childhood home 
searching for solace when Grandpa is gone. 

Enjoy the glory of Georgia in spring 
as you poke around the garden paths 
but don’t look for my ghost in the roses 

or the showy whites of viburnum. 
I’m not in a swath of azaleas 
or a perfect row of tulips. 

But rise before the sun first lights 
the clouds behind the crest of trees 
that shadow our stretch of Oconee. 

Bundle yourself and set a brisk pace 
through the chilly end of an April night 
immersed in the chorus of morning. 

The gates of my heaven are guarded 
by a sentinel brown thrasher 
belting a medley of bird-psalms 

from the tip of a tender-leafed tree. 
We’ll meet in the moments the new world glows 
with clean glimmers of predawn light. 

And I will sing my peace to you 
in the whistling trill of a waterthrush song 
and the sweet of a chickadee call. 

You’ll bound like the yearling trailing a doe,  
you and your mumma, but girl when you go 
I’ll be the still spring in your soul. 


14 comments:

  1. Beautiful. I'm so impressed with your poetry. This reminds me of Robert Frost, although my knowledge of poetry is thin. And what a legacy you are leaving for your grandchildren!

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    1. Thank you, Linda. Frost might be rolling over in his grave, but your comment has me smiling.

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  2. I’m hoping this will be many years from now, Bob.

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    1. Crossing fingers, knocking on wood, thowing salt over my shoulder. Thanks, Richard.

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  3. So thoughtful and loving of you to write a poem for sweet Maggie!

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    1. Aww, thanks, sis-in-law. I'm missing the little bundle of exuberance.

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  4. Very nice Bob, your words are amazingly descriptive of what I also see and hear this Spring, and as a lucky Popi to have 2 grands nearby, I understand your pain in missing Miss Maggie. Hope you get to travel to see her soon !

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    1. Thanks, Jack. I'm sure you're a great Popi who will be a vital part of their lives.

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  5. Nice read. Touching on quite thoughts,with a gentle hand.

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    1. Thank you. Unlike Dylan Thomas, I aim to go gentle into that good night. Just not too soon...

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  6. Beautiful. I also hope that this will be many years from now.

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    1. Thank you, Susan. Many years – that's Plan A. But as you may have heard: Man plans, and God laughs.

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  7. Amazing.. Married to KJH for all of those years, but you still have enough soul left to write good poetry. From one survivor to another..

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  8. This poem rings true; brown thrashers and street-side weeds are certainly more our family's speed!

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