You are my guiding angels.
You are my shining lights.
Although you're gone, it is alright
-- you're still here by our sides.
You're both who we hold onto.
Together now, at last,
and though we miss your company
great times had been amassed.
Your legacy spans decades,
a life you built with just your hands
together bound by romance,
a garden stretched through many lands.
Your love for all your children,
your grandkids, and their children, too,
is infamous and admirable
-- and I will aim to follow you.
My eyes will always look for you
but it's my heart that sees:
you're both up there together now
and watching over me.
This poem is a direct successor of my 2006 poem, "Guiding Angel", which can be found at this link:
http://www.poems-and-quotes.com/poems/802102
Brief backstory:
My grandmother (to her grandchildren known as mémère), Lillian White, passed away on November 28th, 2006. My grandfather was an intricate and upstanding part of my life for many years, both before and after my grandmother's passing. Grandpa would come over every Sunday and we would go looking for bargains at the yard sales, what we called "yard-sailing", and eat dinner together, among many other activities. He spent holidays at our house and, toward the last years of his life, he lived with my parents next to my old room. I was deployed in Qatar when my parents told me that my grandfather was being put on hospice care and wasn't expected to live much longer. Through a completely unexpected and beautiful act of kindness, my deployed leadership granted me temporary leave (up to 5 days) to visit my grandfather and say goodbye. I flew out December 17th, 2017 and was greeted at the door by my grandfather looking out the window waiting for my arrival. Over the course of my week visiting home, my grandfather's condition improved miraculously. At the beginning of my temporary visit home, my grandfather could do almost nothing on his own. He needed help to use the restroom, he needed a walker to get around, and his speaking was very belabored. Closer to the end of my stay, he was able to walk around on his own and because of that were able to share a special time together-- all around the spirit of Christmas. I relished in the 5 days I was given, and then I flew back to finish out my deployment in Qatar on December 22nd, 2017.
After 12 years of living without my grandmother, my grandfather joined his wife, Lillian, when he passed away peacefully on March 8th, 2018. Although many reading this might not know him, I will nonetheless provide the link to his obituary (http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/tauntongazette/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=188426392). I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to see him during some of his last good days.
November 28th, 2018 will be the first time where, on my mémère's anniversary of passing, we will be celebrating both of their lives. Together, they are my inspiration for this final piece.
