Top 25 Results (Member Poems)

You searched Exact Keyword(s): losing in category: grandparents and form: All with 10 minimum and 5000 maximum characters.

Back

Details | Light Verse |

Getting Old Man

Everyone flies
I’m still left behind
Scared to death
I’m losing my mind.

Sitting on a chair
Counting white hairs
Realized I’m too old
But I just don’t care.

I see the beauty
A man getting old
Got wrinkles on skin
Memories don’t fold.

Have money and time
Though no more strength
Let me live each day
Make a longer length...

Details | Free verse |

The Older We Grow

Time has a strange way of sliding by silently,when you are not watching,
Next thing you know it is a new year,that you have to survive and get your family through.
 Mirrors are no longer a looking glass from which you gaze upon your reflection,
You just glance as you rush to and fro.
losing even more time,and it feels like even your mind,as you notice a gray hair growing in plain sight.
Your children are grown up and on their own,and fear of the unknown comes to live in your home.
My husband and I sit and rock in our chairs veiwing the awesome sunset,
When he smiles and says We have loved each other through good and bad ,raised our children well, as we grow old together, we have more love to show,and share,
Until we move on, and no longer care.
Details | Couplet |

Grandpa Shoots From the Hip

Inquiring of my grandparents to explain love,
Teasing grandpa said, "Togetherness alone pays."

I asked him, what's kept you together all these years?
"Tethers do not work, the secret is frequent hugs."

In short, what do you credit your long marriage to?
"Tough love means you don't always say what you're thinking."

Interesting, Grandpa, how you shoot from the hip.
The ball's in your court now; Granny, you have your say.

"Imagine love's like ball games, you win and you lose.
Teamwork means that each player has a job to do.

It's never about winning every single game;
There's those times when you win by losing, so it seems.

Indeed, God says, love others as you love yourself.
To place your partner in front of you is true love."

In retrospect, both my grandparents made their point;
They agree:  love puts others first unselfishly.


August 20, 2022
Details | Free verse |

The man who raised me

The Man Who Raised Me

They say you lose people as you grow
but I lost you before I even understood
what losing meant.

You were there from the very beginning.
Before I had memories,
before I had words,
before I knew how to be anything on my own.

You carried me when I couldn’t walk,
taught me the world in ways I didn’t even notice then.

You weren’t just my grandad—
you were everything.
The one who showed up,
every time without question,
without fail.
And then one day… you didn’t.

I was seven.

Too young to understand why the person
who had always been there suddenly wasn’t.
Too young to realise that losing you
would shape everything that came after.

I don’t remember everything—
that’s the part that hurts the most.
Just pieces.
Moments.
Feelings I can’t fully place.

But I know this:
the love you gave me never really left.
It just stayed—
quiet, unfinished,
growing with me in ways you never got to see.

And I think a part of me is still that child,
waiting for you to walk back through the door
like you always did.
Details | Couplet |

Dunking One's Biscuit

DUNKING ONE'S BISCUIT  . . . 

Dunking one’s biscuit is more than a flippin’ skilled art
When getting it to one’s mouth without it falling apart

Timing is all-important here it needs to be not too soft
As you lift it from the teacup over to your mouth cross

Get it right and the winning mouth - gets to takes it all
Get it wrong and the losing biscuit - takes a flippin’ fall

Don’t even think of knocking your granny over this one 
The lady is an aged old expert - she’ll never be outdone

Grandpa is far more laid back as he only does it for fun
As all the missed soggy biscuits down his hairy chin run

Uncle Sac is getting the hang of it over his learned years
Aunt Lea doesn’t partake as she always ends up in tears

Rex the dog is always quite happy if you make a mistake
He sees all this coming - happy to stand by you and wait

No need for tissues as he is quite happy to lick your face 
No hope of keeping one’s dignity as you are losing grace

Oft an afternoon was spent with this skilled art we tried
With the miss tries making us all laugh so till we all cried

Ah yes - dunking one’s biscuit is more than a flippin’ art
It takes a scientific skill or like my dear old granny smart

Who spent many a younger year learning this clever art
So if you are well past caring please don’t give up heart

It is all about the fun of trying and the laughter it brings 
And it really makes your day if it’s your biscuit that wins 

Indiana Shaw . . .

Details | Haiku |

Age-Old Question

Spring’s fading flowers
Worn down rocks on riverbeds
Trees losing their leaves

Is this growing old?
Is this what it is to age?
Not if you get there…

Spring’s perennials
The rivers water flowing
The trees budding leaves
 
The ones who fight age
Still lose to time in the end
The dance crude and vain

Those that grow with age
Gain wisdom, moments of joy
The dance elegant

Sincerely live life
Honestly love and be loved
Truly be happy

Unfortunately
Life’s lessons can be cruel, hard
But still there’s meaning…

Into the bargain
Life’s lessons make one stronger 
If you choose to learn…

You have to grow up
But stay a child in your heart
And you won’t grow old

Age is the price paid
But the cost is no real loss
And profits are big

The wealth of your life
Is how many friends you have
Not how much money

The income, wisdom
To find your bliss in spirit
To learn, teach, live, love

Called the golden years
Some would say age is a curse
Really rusty years

Age has its drawbacks
The body starts to break down
The mind wanders off

Age is a challenge
Getting old can try your soul
Sometimes breaks your heart

Aging can be hard
Sometimes there’s sickness and pain
Loved ones pass away

Though we lose someone
They will live on in our hearts
Until it’s our time

We don’t know God’s plan
Sometimes we live a long life
Age is the reward

Cherish every day
Live your life to the fullest
Make good memories

Age is a gift from God
Wondrous metamorphosis
Like a butterfly

Grow old with your love
Are the best years yet to be?
The age-old question…
Details | Ode |

Grandfather

You are one of the people whom I admire the most,
 I always think to send u in Heaven a post;
 Your absence pierces the heart,
 Desire to have my name in your good chart;
 Long since there no one to tell the stories,
 Ramayana and Mahabharata whose heroes enchanted their glories;
 Evening walks are missing you,
 Alone here needs who say words true;
 I haven't experience the death's pain,
 The way to get close to God as only gain;
 Today sleeping doesn't bring the happiest moments,
 Request to God to get me the those days in rent;
 I am residing there from where you never came back,
 But I know I am filled with people with whom my heart never sag;
 Losing u at a very small age of mine isn't so good,
 I haven't thought u can be so rude;
 Often my dream witnesses u,
 Your smile, your goodness everything in u;
 The traditions followed by you and from the family attracted me,
 The need of hour requests u to stand aside me;
 The art of archery taught by u,
 Never from my mind in these years this technique flew;
 Rudeness can never be in your nature,
 The Strongest had given so much in your treasure;
 You live in my heart, my instincts,
 Patiently waiting for last 15 years to make my problems fix it;
 My facebook cover photo to have you underneath a big reason,
 Atleast there you are present in my dimension;
 Love and emotions between us kept me alive till today,
 My memory never gonna skip your birthday;
 Wish I could be your stick for your support,
 And I have been there to obey your order as your TV's remote;
 May there be less time to meet you in Heaven,
 Cherishing again the golden days among two men.
Details | Free verse |

The Geography of Your Absence

For my Mimi, Nana Pat, Nana Sue, Bumpa and Papa.
Whom I Miss Each and Every Day.

Where your laughter once carved bright rivers
Through the canyons of my days, 
Now silence pools in the hollows of my heart,
And your light-so singular-fades
To a thin gold haze, I cannot quite touch.
I wander these rooms that echo
With the hush you left behind,
My fingertips tracing dust-
A faded photograph of us, your forgotten sweater,
The empty cup you loved,
All I have left to gather into memory's arms.
The clock's relentless turning
Has not made you less gone.
If anything, the ache grows sharper-
A stone I carry in my pocket,
Heavy, inescapable.
The world keeps spinning, 
Seasons turn as if nothing has changed,
But your absence is now my only weather,
A second skin that wraps around me-
Invisible, immutable.
The world conspires to keep you near:
A song you loved plays in the grocery store,
The scent of rain on warm pavement-
A smile from a stranger that mirrors yours.
Every day, a thousand tiny echoes 
Of the way you filled my world with color.
I am the cartographer of these haunted lands-
I map the borders of longing,
Chart rivers swollen with tears,
Name forests where your laughter lingers
In the hush of the leaves.
They say time heals,
That the pain will dull,
That one day I'll wake and find
Your shape in my life has blurred-
Edges softened, eclipsed by new joy.
But in the hush between my heartbeats,
You are sharp as glass,
The wound a window
That lets in only memory and longing.
I water your roses.
But they do not bloom for me.
I keep your letters,
But your words have gone quiet.
Each night, I light a candle
And watch its small, steady flame-
It shivers, a wavering hope
In the cathedral of my sorrow.
Every morning, I rise and carry you
Like a melody only I recall,
Your name forever on the tip of my tongue.
You are everywhere and nowhere-
The sky aches with the blue of your absence,
A distance I cannot cross.
You taught me the language of laughter;
Now I speak in sighs and silence.
You gave me the gift of presence,
And I am left learning
The long practice of absence-
The slow, daily tending
Of what I cannot repair.
Yet, in the quiet hours
When sleep won't come,
I find you in the space
Between one breath and the next-
Somehow still a comfort,
Somehow still a pain.
I am the keeper of your memory,
The lighthouse on a shore
You will not return to-
A beacon for my shipwrecked heart.
Some days, grief is a heavy coat I cannot shrug off.
Every street corner holds the ghost of your laughter;
The world's colors bleed pale
Because you are not here.
I am learning to live with this weight-
To walk, to speak, to smile
As though nothing is missing,
As though my bones are not hollowed
By your absence.
And yet-
Sometimes there is sweetness in the sadness,
A reminder that loving you
Carved new chambers in my soul.
To have known you was a miracle.
To lose you is to measure each day by the echo
Of that miracle's worth.
So, I gather up the fragments:
A photograph, a note,
The memory of your hand in mine-
And I make a shelter,
A place to sit gently with my sorrow,
To soften grief's sharpest edges
With remembrance.
Life moves on-
New days are born.
I am remade by mourning,
A mosaic of what was broken,
A song in a minor key.
When I weep,
It is not only for what I have lost
But for all that you gave me-
Your laughter, your light,
The warmth of your voice at night.
Even as sadness settles beside me,
I am grateful to have loved you
So deeply, so fiercely, so true.
In the geography of your absence,
You remain-
A landmark, a beacon,
A star by which I navigate
All the dark and winding roads ahead.
And if, on some distant morning,
The ache has softened,
If the world brightens with gentler light,
I will carry you forward-
Not as a shadow,
But as the quiet presence
That shapes every kindness,
Every hope, every day
Of this life I learn to live-
With, and beyond,
The sadness of losing you.


Get a Premium Membership
Turn off ads, get more exposure for your poetry, and get more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Diverse Voices: The Poetry of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Peace