I wrote many of my poems here
while I cared for him in his home.
He had a smile that would light up the darkest of days.
A whistling laugh that made the hard times good
and a determined soul
passed along to me
which I am ever so blessed for.
My grandfather was dealt a tough deck of cards
from becoming an outstanding athlete to loose it all
in a disease that paralyzed him slowly.
It tore his perfect family apart
and shed light on human emotional limits.
yet he smiled on.
He always had a joke,
or a devilish wink in his back pocket
to share
and shatter the high tensions
my family faced when hard times arouse .
I miss him deeply for that.
Though I must say
That the day I received the phone call from my weary mother.
Lost in her words that her father was ill
We both knew that we had said good bye to him a while ago.
He had lost the wonderful positive mind to another
more difficult disease.
This is what broke me the most.
Is that we were all with him
as he breathed his last few breaths on earth.
And he had no idea who we were.
We just wanted to make sure he was comfortable.
And passed on lovingly.
I like to think he did.
He left earth that day.
We all felt his spirit leave the little room in the home.
He said his own good byes in a way he hadn't been able too in years.
and like a candle blown out into the darkness of the unknown
John Patrick Sears left this life.
and I felt
my soul loose a support beam in my venture of life.
