Grandma Still Calls Your Name

I will always remember those uneven paths, which led me to you - sorrowful reminder of promises I could not keep. All you wanted was to sit with me for a while, to talk and maybe try to make me smile. Yet fate did not let us share the stars, not even for one night - now there is only darkness. I will never forget, how you would sit under the sage green veranda, sipping on your sweet tea, laughing and chatting away. Many would sit and listen to your non fiction tales about when the air was clean and the fields were green, childhood mischief and forgotten memories. I'll always remember that glint in your eyes, the warmth in your smile and that sui generis voice. Especially when parades of birds would chirp at dawn and when gazing at fireflies flickering under lanterns at dusk. The veranda is now silent, but grandma still calls your name. The aroma from those abundance of petals still lingers, but your scent does not appear. Berries still appear from your affluent olive trees, but they shall never be hydrated by your hands. Sweet jasmine still climbs up veranda poles, maybe trying to reach heaven, to be with you. Your last words will always live with me: "Come sit with me, even just for a couple of days." but the next day you were gone... Dedicated to my grandfather. 1930 - 18 August 2018. Silent One 26 August 2018