We'Ll Meet Again
Every morning before five
She was bustling around the kitchen
Creating her breakfast of biscuits
Gravy and sides of bacon or sausage
Eggs fried long enough to color
The yellow yolk with a seal of white
Barely concealing the liquid gold
She set the plates on the table
With forks and glasses of milk for the kids
Coffee, black and boiling, for the adults
Freshly bubbled on the wood cook stove
Where he had placed wood the night before
So she could light a fire when dawn
Rose silently over the mountain’s peaks
Granny and Pa had been together
For long enough to raise six children
And see most of them raise their own
As I was, still a child, but a part of their world
Their oldest daughter’s only girl who
Fell silent when it came to the details
Of just why she was growing up at Granny’s
There, at Granny’s, it was where I learned
About telling the truth and being kind
Working hard and minding my manners
Allowing others to go before I did
Accepting the challenges of being the youngest
In a family of older siblings who were my
Aunts and uncles, and who I loved so dearly
The only hard part of growing up at Granny’s
Was reaching adulthood and discovering
That my grandparents wouldn’t be there
For many more years – their age caught up
With me and with them and with our family
And they left me behind before I was ready
To let them go – to heaven, where we’re meeting
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