Grandmothers

Weekly Poems: A Poem About Terrorism and Health and More

SO MAY A TINY, CLEVER ENEMY

So may a tiny, clever enemy
Wield more power than the greatest states.
Inventive, mutant, merciless murderers,
Now they plot as the world prepares and waits,
Each moment shadowed by catastrophe.

For us, the only road to victory
Lies through the valley of the sufferers,
Unified in love till death abates.

WE ARE UPWARD BOUND

We are upward bound, the world’s bright future,
The generation that will not betray
Its noblest dreams, the things that we’ve been taught here,
The ways of peace and brotherhood and love.

So as we make this final farewell gesture
And take our leave on graduation day,
Let us thank the teachers that we’ve found here,
Who must each day be what they hope to prove.

What a gift you’ve given us—yourselves!
The best in you, that you might be a sign
To us of what the best in us can be:
Loving, smart, hardworking, fair, and kind.

Your temperament’s the well-wrought text that tells
Us more than any lesson you assign.
We become the people that we see
And treasure long the good we leave behind.

SAYING WHAT I’M NOW ABOUT TO SAY

Saying what I’m now about to say
Is like standing poised upon a cliff.
It seems like just an ordinary day,
But my future is suspended on an if.
To me you’re an extraordinary friend:
You’ve transformed who I am, my being’s core.
I would not for my life want this to end,
But now I want to ask for something more.
I love you, and I hope that you love me;
But if you don’t that way, please don’t go.
Although I want to love you physically,
Your wishes will command me, once I know.
I must speak now, whatever you may do;
I do not want to lose a gift like you.

DAUGHTERS-IN-LAW ARE OUR GRANDCHILDREN’S MOTHERS

Daughters-in-law are our grandchildren’s mothers.
As such, they carry our fortunes downstream.
Under their guidance, our hopes become others’,
Giving their force to a much larger dream.
How lucky we are to have you for the carer
That nurtures the hearts of our hearts, that they may
Each be a lover, a giver and sharer,
Remaking the world in their image each day.
So do we all, like streams from the mountains,
In time become joined in the souls we have made,
Now mingled forever, eternal companions,
Linked by our love in a bond that won’t fade.
As you in your noontime your work of love do,
We watch from the hillside, grateful for you.

CHILDREN NEED A DADDY

Children need a Daddy
For many, many things:
Like holding them high off the ground
Where the sunlight sings!

Like being the deep music
That tells them all is right
When they awaken frantic with
The terrors of the night.

Like being the great mountain
That rises in their hearts
And shows them how they might get home
When all else falls apart.

Like giving them the love
That is their sea and air,
So diving deep or soaring high
They’ll always find him there.

FROM MY PRESENT MOUNTAINTOP

From my present mountaintop
I look back whence I came:
An unexpected passage through
Some bleak and rough terrain.

I look on what you did for me:
The years of borrowed days,
The sacrifice of liberty
That only love repays;

The grace with which you gave yourselves,
Though not without great cost,
Not blaming me for fortune’s gift
Nor counting what was lost.

I feel a flood of gratitude
Like sunlight through my heart,
A light that lights the candle of
The life about to start.

HOW CAN I MAKE THIS TIME OF TELLING SPECIAL

How can I make this time of telling special
When I tell you that I love you every day?
How can I tell you that you are my angel
When you know you are my angel anyway?
I love you more on this, your day of birth,
Than on the day we married, long ago.
Like a tree each year in height and girth,
My love has grown immense, though still and slow.
But each time our eyes join instead of meet,
It’s as though the lights of stars and sun
Join in me, a burst so bright and sweet,
It couldn’t be contained by anyone.
And so as poetry it flows to you
That I may words with all my love imbue.

About the Author

I am a poet and webmaster of the popular poetry site, Poems for Free, at http://www.poemsforfree.com.

BEAUTIFUL ARE THE CHILDREN – A Poem About Children

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New To North America: Writing by U.S. Immigrants, Their Children and Grandchildren 2nd Ed. $8.00 Cultural Writing. Poetry. Fiction. Essays. NEW TO NORTH AMERICA is a collection of fiction, essays, poetry and memoir that documents the experiences and contributions of three critical generations from immigrant to second generation American. While the complex subject of immigration has been oversimplified by national headlines, the voices of immigrants have often been excluded from the debate. Ou…

Child of My Child: Poems and Stories for Grandparents $10.91 More than 60 highly accomplished literary writers and poets explore the timeless realities and contemporary challenges of becoming — and being– a grandparent in the 21st century. Finalist in the Anthology category, 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Finalist, “Best Grandparenting Book” 2012 About.com Readers’ Choice Awards.Read what others are saying. . . “The generation that didn’t trust a…