Thursday, October 28, 2010

Imperfect Prose: We Came to Say Good-bye







We Came to Say Good-bye

We came to say good-bye
sitting on couches,
which would later be beds.
Grandpa read Orthodox proverbs to us
and asked if I could read Romanian.
When I said: a little,
he gave me his book to read.

We ate chicken from the yard
and were gifted a frozen goose.
After spreading garlic thick across our meal,
we ate warm placinta and complained of tummies too full.

We held new babies
round with fat and life,
they smiled at us~
and we came to say good-bye.

We sat in the yard
and on a green bench snapped the moment,
then rose, the day grown cold around us.
Grandpa said: when two become one, you go~
and told us he'd been married 60 years~
and then they could go together no longer.

We embraced; I wore my chunky shoes
and had to bend my baby heavy waist to hug him~
Three kisses on each cheek.
My husband held him closer~
and then we all walked to the gate.
Aunt said: nu vreau sa plang~
I don't want to cry, as tears fell.

We held back our sobs, even as we held them
one last time.
We stood, he on his cane, her on her tears,
and us on our choice, and waved.
We came to say good-bye
and maybe we have been
since the day we arrived.



Come back tomorrow to link up your short story to "If you have the time..." See Tuesday's post for more details.

Today I'm linking up with In the Hush of the Moon...

8 comments:

Sarah said...

tears in our eyes.

Brian Miller said...

oh man...you never want those moments to end...smiles.

Lisa notes... said...

Wow. This was very poignant.

"We stood, he on his cane, her on her tears,
and us on our choice, and waved.
We came to say good-bye
and maybe we have been
since the day we arrived."

Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

Amanda MacB said...

That last stanza - powerful.

la femme elisabeth said...

Beautiful. So proud.

Mommy Emily said...

oh girl... the joy and pain of being in communion, and you capture this so well... and the fragility of life... it made me ache deep... and i'm so happy to know you more, to know you're married and expecting (congrats!!) and to see your beautiful photo... and your family. you always share such stunning insights. i treasure your posts. e.

Melissa Campbell said...

Your writing is beautiful and anointed. Your story touched me deep, brought me to tears. Thank you for commenting on my blog, and inviting me here. I am like Emily: there is treasure to be found. So blessed to get to meet you, friend. :)

Unknown said...

just.wow.
this brought back some very special memories of my own.
those photos are stunning.

Search This Blog

 

Learning | Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial License | Dandy Dandilion Designed by Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates