Grandfather

This is the elegy I wrote for my paternal grandfather on his passing....just thinking about him today.

I knew you only in the fullness

Of your days, the father of my father

With a stride to match your will

Unhindered by doubt or regret.

Your hands seemed eternal

Torn on fence posts

Crowned in cruel thorns

Always bigger than mine, those hands

No matter how big mine grew

Hands readied for rain, upturned in faith

Awaiting the promise of heaven

Fingers as roots, strong and gnarled

Grayed with time and the breaking of stone

Hands as strong as time.

Your voice mighty as mountains breaking

A billowing fiery tempest; alight in dry brush

Consuming all the holy rooms of your life

Seeking every opening, wanting a way in

To call the faithless to glory

I loved best your laughter

Low in the hollow of your throat;

A warm wind at dusk

Scented by tilled earth.

Grand father, you are an obstinate root

Deep in the land of our families;

Drawing strength from hidden pools,

Putting forth a flowering legacy.