Opa (Version #3)

Opa,

You die before me,

Quickly your aged body crumbles,

You become a frail ghost.

Opa,

With scars on chest and tongue,

On leg and heart.

Your wounds go unnoticed.

Opa,

Still a smile to the last day.

My eulogy is being prepared.

Your eyes meet mine nightly.

Opa,

Your hands touch my hands,

My childhood world swiftly races through my mind.

Airplane Park, Train Park, New York City, Concord.

Opa,

You taught me light and shadow.

I danced in your army uniform.

We built Quaker Oats vehicles.

Opa,

A bayonet resides beneath your bed.

Your love awaits you in your heaven.

You are a gift to this world.

Opa,

So silently full of love.

A whispering howl of giving.

You are a knight.

Opa,

Without you the world will be smaller.

My plains of passion will be completed.

As compassion is greater.

Opa,

You taught me to give,

You taught me to love.

I will never stop giving and loving.

Opa,

Thank you for your love.

You will remain alive forever.

For your heart will always remain beating in mine.

© 2005 David Greg Harth

05.07.12.03:36:57@296NYC