Dear Great Grandpa

Rest in peace, 1923-2008.

Dear Great Grandpa, I wonder how you are

How is heaven, do you remember me?

No matter how many stamps, you are too far

But at least my letter is for God to see

Its been years since you went away

But maybe you will read this somehow

Because it is too late for what I want to say

But back then I knew less than I do now

Dear Great Grandpa, I have to ask you

Because you never seemed to talk much

And I guess I was the same too

I want to know about your life and such

They say in November your first breath was took

How was it growing up in the changing past?

For that world is just black text in my school textbook

And I only know of the eight years that were your last

Is forever lost wealth depressing as the name?

Was it like an apocalypse when the whole world fought?

What joy you had when the chains wore out their fame?

Did the future fantasies come faster than thought?

How did it feel to live in new land?

Or when the colors splashed on the screen?

Were the sparkles and fashion beyond understand?

These are the moments I wish my eyes have seen

Stacks of church paper and ice cream snow

And they say you loved it like I do

Are there more similarities that you can show?

But stories are the only way I may know

Dear Great Grandpa, do you watch the earth spin?

As life changes rapidly like the altering tide?

It may sadden you a little, how large the amount of sin

I feel like waking up with a helmet and sword at the side

On your grave it says you were a sheep to Shepherd

Well, now the sheep are still the wolves' prey

Is it worse than what you knew or have heard?

But at least the hope in God is here to stay

Concerned for what the world is coming to?

But with the helmet and sword I still smile

You were inspired in what the world must see true

And we will make it through temptation and trial

But I have to say humanity still reaches high

With magic glasses and fingertip squares

Holograms and synthesizers light the sky

And there will always be someone who still cares

Freedom, world peace, some things unobtainable

These are the things I now wonder about

I guess I stand out, something unexplainable

Wanting to change the world, a thought some are without

Dear Great Grandpa, the family is fine

Your wife, your children, grand and beyond

Moving along in the time period now mine

Revelation, salvation, of which we are fond

Times are still hard, but not the worse I suppose

Heartbreak and reunion, loss and gain

Money and churches, agreement and oppose

Honest and cowards, and here we all remain

Each year the same soaked mud and black gate

The exact location of you in memory

A glance at your buried neighbor as we wait

And bow our heads together in God's glory

New children who you never got to know

Have yet to learn of the mysterious relative

One born on your day, you would have loved them all so

A family growing in a path you helped make positive

The cultures mix, but we are all right!

Anyway, how long were they apart?

This time may be hard but good is in sight

Laughing as pride and joy warms the heart

A foreboding future that brings promise and hope

Breaking down and rebuilding as stronger

Slowly twisting and biting the end of the rope

Or letting go as to not choke any longer?

If one of your words could reach our ears

Would you applaud with praise, satisfied?

Or scold and rebuke for meeting your fears?

Maybe both, finding reason on each side

After you left, the bishop is still played

Our churches open the gates wide

Running through a journey before us laid

This path is a persecuted yet joyful ride

Dear Great Grandpa, I am looking ahead

While I keep the past locked and on play

I still remember seeing you in my head

Our stories overlapped and connected in a way

A kiss on the cheek on Sunday each week

A small touch on the handle of a cane or wheelchair

Sharp eyes watching children laugh at hide and seek

A foreign tongue softly muttering prayers in the air

A feeling of respect and pride echoes and resounds

The naive trembling of a young child's fear

A quiet soul where my curiosity abounds

Wondering what I would find by stripping away years

A hushed group praying outside on stone stairs

Your hunched form silently sitting but alive

Watching from the door, each child who dares

Waiting for the ambulance to arrive

Cold nights waiting in the hospital lobby

The younger ones barred from going to your room

Running around or staring out windows as a short hobby

Before leaving and see you later, we assume

The cycle continued until it was compressed

The routine closer and closer together than before

Small minds were free from worry and not distressed 

Thinking you would be here longer and more

In a car in July driving home for the night

I thought about summer, being free and bored

When I was told in the dark and dim moonlight,

"Great Grandpa went home to be with the Lord."

Movies and toys in the home were lame

I was forced to stutter a Bible verse in front of the crowd

I touched your face twice, it will never be the same

As you lay in the white coffin, soft velvet your shroud

Dressed in white instead of black one morn

Many white balloons released into the sky

It scared me how loudly many would mourn

But it told me it was a good to also cry

I think it was white, the rose in my hand

The grave was deep, how far one knew

I watched my rose in the arrangement so grand

As it lowered with the coffin, which held inside you

Dear Great Grandpa, the years still went by

The world is different than you knew before

If you could say something, if you could try

How you feel, or must I say more?

One day we will meet again in due time

Words spoken beyond a paper or a glass wall

More than thirty-four stanzas and the ABAB rhyme

More than graveyard visits in the summer and fall

Live under the same God and there is a connection

Hold the hand of the same who lead you home

I still believe in the hope and redemption

Fighting strong in the rainbows and monochrome

Dear Great Grandpa, I know where you are

Looking down above the earth and the moon

We are all right, no matter how far

I am moving forward and see you again soon