Poetry Pleases: Grandpa's Seat
Glen Taylor sees an elderly couple sitting on a seat, gazing out to sea, and imagines their life stories. This splendid poem contains a line which gently reminds parents of their most difficult task: "Their children they've raised, enjoyed and have freed...''
I watched them, one day, as they sat by the bay,
Gazing out there at the sea.
Sticks by their sides, hand on hand lay,
And I thought what their story might be.
Where did they meet and where have they been?
What hardships and joys have they shared?
And taking the seat, that they now vacate,
I imagined what life might be theirs.
Hardship, depression, would surely have come,
Because of the age that they bear.
And war would arrive and he'd carry a gun
As she, all alone, waited there.
Perhaps at some ball, they met long ago,
With boys, by the wall, eyeing girls, all aglow,
And they'd waltz round the room, to the beat of the tune,
And foxtrot and quickstep and jive.
Maybe one day, after chapel he'd stay
And ask her papa for her hand.
And then down the aisle, in dress of great style,
They would walk and feel, oh so grand.
A family they'd start, maybe three maybe four,
And war would the father remove.
But on his return, their brood would soon learn
Of the joys that a family can prove.
Where are they now? If this family is true,
As the two sat and gazed at the view.
Flung far away, round the world they do stray,
Or live just a short walk away?
As they cross o'er the road, walking so slow,
Each leaning so hard on their sticks
Heading towards the 'Aged Rest Home,'
One asks, should it be like this?
No daughter at home to care for their age,
For those times have long been outgrown.
Some say for the better, some say for the worse,
But our children are not ours to own.
And really what matters, far more, for these two,
Is the light in their eyes, as their love still shines through.
Their children they've raised, enjoyed and have freed,
For while they're together, no more do they need.
Glen Taylor.
