Grandma Doesn't Live Here Anymore

When my children were much younger, I wrote a number of children's stories in poetic form. At the time, I wanted to write and publish children's picture books, and it was fun to have a goal that kept me going creatively when they were little. Out of that period came a lot of full length story poems, but no publications in book form. (I did manage to get a couple accepted to magazines like Lollipops and such.) Sadly, this one never seemed to land anywhere, yet it is one of my favorites. That's why it felt right to let it land right here today...in my blog...on Memory Lane.

Grandma Doesn't Live Here Anymore

© 1990 Susan Noyes Anderson

My grandma doesn’t live here anymore.

She left the earth and moved far, far away.

I wonder if she flew through space to get there;

and did it take her long, or just one day?

I wonder if she likes the place she’s gone to.

Before I sleep, I look up at the sky...

And whisper, “Do you see the moon like I do?”

“Do all the stars still twinkle in your eye?”

I climb up on my bed and turn the pages

of fairy tales my grandma used to tell.

Some nights I still pretend she’s reading to me.

“Don’t let the bedbugs bite,” she says. “Sleep well!”

When morning comes, I look up at the white clouds

and see a sailing ship, a bear, a face.

My gran and I would lie down on the green grass;

and, oh, how many pictures we would trace!

Do you think she still sees the clouds like I can?

Could she be close enough to touch them now?

I wonder if she fluffs them up for pillows, or

uses them for cotton balls somehow.

Does she still make a wish on every rainbow?

I do. I’d like to take a rainbow ride.

I bet if I could climb up and slide down one,

I’d find her waiting on the other side.

I know she’s out there somewhere, that’s for sure.

Some days I really miss her, then I cry.

It’s almost like she puts her arms around me

and says, “We’ll be together, by and by.”

And I feel warm inside because I know

I’m going to see my gran again someday.

She gave me clouds, a sailing ship and rainbows,

the moon, and all the stars to light my way.