By Joan Grimes Kowalski
She is part of my very first memory
There were so many things she could do.
The best thing of all was that she’d let me help
And find time to talk to me, too.
I’ve helped her hang paper, upholster a chair,
Garden, clean, cook, can and bake.
She made glass wind chimes, and how she could sew!
Anything that she saw, she could make.
I often picked berries or fruit by her side,
She’d tell me of days long gone by,
She knew all the flowers and trees by their names
And most of the birds in the sky.
She had an old wind-up Victrola and she
Knew the words to each record it played.
One of my most prized possessions today
Is a quilt that my Grandmother made.
She watched Pirate baseball, played carom and cards
Worked crosswords much better than I.
When she made up her mind, something had to be done,
There wasn’t much she wouldn’t try.
But she feared the lightening, electrical storms
Made her light her blessed candles and pray.
She seldom missed Mass and for all of her life
She counted her beads every day.
Years passed, all too soon, she was shrunken with age
Her body grew feeble and slow
But her mind was as sharp as a freshly-honed knife.
She knew more than I’ll ever know.
I cannot believe she’s in Heaven
Just resting for eternity.
She’d have to be busy, I know that for sure,
For so much of her lives in me.
By Joan Grimes Kowalski
Published in U.S. Legacies March 2006
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