For Grandpa

When young in shadowing years
Shocked fragments of stark broken toys
Had power to choke up stinging loss
Lent hot form in human tears
Cherubic youths accustomed not to truth
As oft erupt in bitter rage
Lifted faces creased as seeming justice
Snatches back unpromised gifts

Gazing on your deep lined face
Familiar sounds a haunting note
Fading in a minor key
To lull the twilight of your years
Though once the sandstone cloisters
Echoed out your purposed step
Beneath that furrowed, weary brow
There is a wilder, stranger music yet

Had I never felt your sagely look
And trusted unconditional your words
Lent gravitas beyond what scores
Of men could hope to wield
What I know of love would be
So ragged, incomplete
My debt is to a symphony
Dischordant yet recalled with joy

The toys of old are gone
Fast fades the poignant sting
Their loss once birthed in me
They seem as passing trifles now
Your final lesson I will remember ever
Oblivious though you were who taught
No man may enter that kingdom
Save as a little child