Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Don't Laugh


My first attempt at poetry. Tell me what you think.



Snowflakes

Cold
Cold air
Cold heart
Cold soul

I think I was about 7 and was ironing
The never ending chore
With only one happy thought
Warmth
Gram

She was at least a million years old
Wiser than God
Laughed at the Devil

She stepped silently into the room,
Placed her hand on the freshly starched shirts of my father’s
Both of us knowing they’d be ruined by tomorrow’s light
It didn’t matter; he and Momma had to look respectable
When they entered the bar.

Gram’s touch was as light as a butterfly,
Filled with rainbows
Promise
Hope

Draped in the black wool shawl
I’d knitted her for Christmas last year,
Disaster though it was,
She wore it everywhere.
Proudly.

“Come child”,
Her voice was a caress,
Like the finest velvet.
And for a moment,
I forgot who I was.

We stepped out onto the covered porch
I held her elbow as we descended
The icy steps

She looked up
Up
Up
At the steel gray sky
As snow silently fell,
Covering all of the ugliness

“Look Emma…”
Her voice was barely a whisper.
Her finger, gnarled with arthritis,
Gestured to the snowflakes
Accumulating on her shawl.
“Aren’t they beautiful?”
Yes. Yes, they were. All intricate designs of crystal lace.

“You know something?” She leaned close to me, her voice the softest whisper
I shook my head.

“No two snowflakes are alike.”

My head spun so fast, I felt the world tilt.
“Really? Honest-to-God?”

Her smile warmed me
Warmed my cold, cold heart.

“My dearest Emma…”
She caressed my cheek,
“You will always be my snowflake.”



 

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