Bookends

As I knew no living grandparents, I’ve been a grandson to none. But I have been a son, a god son, a younger brother, an older brother, A nephew, a cousin, an uncle, A grand uncle, a great grand uncle, A husband twice espoused, A son-in-law, a brother-in-law, A father, a god father, a stepfather, A father-in-law, And an ex-husband twice removed. As my children are not yet parents, And, given the state of the world, May possibly never be, I am grandfather to none. If certain familial ties can be Regarded as bookends to a life, Mine are less than evident, Leaving my existential chronology Dangling famously over edges, Mocking the persistence of memory.