The Grandmother

 Please excuse our mutual lack of postings last week. We were clobbered by life.

The Grandmother

Why, hello, dear! Are you all right?

No room for weariness tonight.

How would you like to rest with me

and watch them all dance merrily?

I’ll tell you something you won’t believe.

(My dear, you’ve crumbs upon your sleeve.)

I was once a bright young girl

who joined the dancers in their whirl

of silks, of laces, of perfumes

and glittered, flashing feather-plumes…

now, don’t you laugh, my graceful dear!

I’d say, ‘It’s getting warm in here,’

to make my partner look aghast

and soon suggest a slight repast.

I’d laugh and let him give me cake

and happily his heart I’d break.

My dear, don’t be as I once was;

when you dance, and when you pause,

be kind to those who give you cake

and don’t delight in what is fake.

Now, off you go, miss mademoiselle—

yes, of course, you look quite well.

Ah, what a sight she is out there,

with happy eyes and flying hair!

I hope she has with pleasure learned

the lesson I so badly earned.

If I have helped her just this time,

the trade of my own youthful prime

will be well worth these silver locks

and all the hours of all the clocks.

Allison Young, 2012