Uncle Jimmy

“When a society or a civilization perishes, one condition can always be found. They forgot where they came from.”

– Carl Sandburg

“You live as long as you are remembered.” – Russian proverb

“Why waste your money looking up the family tree? Just go into politics and your opponents will do it for you.” – Mark Twain

“ If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.” – George Bernard Shaw

***

Uncle Jimmy

His teeth are yellowed

Like the dark recesses

Of the candle’s glow

Eyes that lie about his age

Daring to sparkle with

 Diamonds of childhood

Perhaps a game

Of hide and seek

With 84 years of wrinkles

And lost hair

His weight has shifted

And reduced as the body

Slows to the ancient rhythms

Of the earth that waits

To hold him

The embrace of last night

Was the first one in over forty years

I know it will be the last

I can still feel his soft grasp

As if we both tried

To keep the sun from setting

Tenderly he welcomed

This lost niece home

***

Bisous,

Léa