Great Grandfather

I knew an old wise Angel Who was generous with his’ time He could make anyone feel special Until the stairway to heaven he did climb He took me to my first confession And had my rosary beads blessed He introduced me to religion And finding my faith became my quest He told me the most wondrous stories And had the wildest imagination His stories still live in my memories Cos we were characters in his creation His lap was where we’d love to sit He made us feel at home Loving vibes he did emit Love, the reason I wrote this poem His name was Spencer Gagan He was my Great Grandfather A wonderful Christian, a great man To me there was no other He did what he could for everyone And received nothing in return Even his partner, and Peter, her son Took him for granted without concern He loved Peter like his own Taking the place of his Dad But when Peter was nearly grown They up and left him alone, sad He lived many hours away So I treasured the time we spent When he’d stay at Nan’s for a holiday Until back home he went He became ill and placed in a hostel Where I think he was alone quite a lot I’m not sure if he was cared for well I hated the place, it was a depressing spot We knew he wouldn’t last much longer We would visit every second Sunday His spirit weakened, where it used to be stronger I would hold him tight, not knowing what to say The last time I saw him, we held each others’ hand He went to say my name but stopped His memory disappearing like the sifting sand My heart filled with sadness, just popped Then a week or so later, while lying in bed I awoke in early hours of the morning To my Great Grandfather gently stroking my head He had come to give me a warning He had just passed and was on his way He comforted me as I lay crying He told me he wished he could stay But the time had come, there was no compromising He said so much but spoke not a word And I understood the silence Our bond grew stronger, my emotions stirred As I witnessed his spirits disappearance I woke my Sister to tell her what I knew Tears falling from my eyes The phone started ringing out of the blue To inform Mum of Great Grandfathers’ demise. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ©copyright Juanita Torr ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~