Tag Archives: Grandfather

GRANDFATHER’S MOUSTACHE

GRANDFATHER’S MOUSTACHE

The moustaches
of my grandfather and Carl Jung
(Twins separated at birth)
have lives of their own

Jung’s stays in Switzerland
combing the unconscious

My grandfather’s travels to Brazil and Canada
gathers rainforest moisture, dirty thirties dirt
and remnants of strong cheese and pipe smoke
(Carl’s certainly contains some of that too)

When grandfather sneezes, I get to share it all

SEASONS

SEASONS

My grandfather came to Canada
trailing the civilities of Europe

Planted ten thousand trees
on the bald-assed prairie

Plenty of produce for a family
and acres and acres and acres
of flowers as well

On the other side of a depression
and the rationings of war
every plant like every animal
on my parents’ ranch
had to pay its way

At our house in Austin
we have only flowers

A KINDER GENTLER GOD

A KINDER GENTLER GOD

As we look around the world today we see
with God as our father in trouble all are we

Fathers as you know, often have a tendency
towards discipline, judgement and wrath
while grandparents almost always
take a wiser, gentler path

There may be much to learn
as we choose, or create our deity
from the Blackfoot, Sioux and Cree
who still gather at Grandfather’s knee

THOUGHTS TO PONDER

THOUGHTS TO PONDER – a story from the internet

An old Native American grandfather was talking to his grandson about how he felt about the tragedy (9-11) and what should be done.

He said “I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is the vengeful, angry, violent one. The other wolf is the loving compassionate one.”

“So,” asked the grandson, “which wolf will win the fight in your heart?”

“The one that I feed,” answered the grandfather

LEARNING FROM GRANDPARENTS

LEARNING FROM GRANDPARENTS

From my Swiss grandfather
who dreamed and grew a prairie Eden
combining Europe and High Brazil
I learned the impossible is possible

From my English grandmother
I learned that niceness is very nice
but you can leave feeling empty
except for cookies and milk

From my father’s mother
and my mother’s father
I learned that early death
is a form of theft