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An Important Lesson

You could see the twinkle
In my grandma's eyes
A dry deadpan smile
Gamblers best beware
A woman drunk on temperance
With a healthy fear of god
A member of the eastern star
Loyalist and proud
No surrender, no retreat
God Save the Queen
She prayed that prayer
Every night - hopping
 
A sense of twisted humour
Cheekiness and naughtiness
Playing pranks on yours truly
However a strict disciplinarian
Spare the rod, spoil the child
But with me, she spared the rod
I think she had suspicions
She would always ask me
How things were at home
But I wast a grass I told her
"Fine" everything was all fine
Even when it clearly was not
The crackle in my young voice
Almost giving it away
 
She had hands like shovels
Muscular arms like Popeye
From a life cleaning stoops
And washing dome stairs
A frugal life of going without
Not a time of credit cards
She could out arm wrestle
And out fight most men
In quiet moments of gentleness
Despite her rough old hands
Cave the perfect loving hugs
Stroking my hair calling  
me her Wee Davy lad
And I fell asleep in her arms
 
The day she died
Was a day of reckoning
Now there would be no respite
No place of safety
Relatives and neighbours
Pawed over her things
Like rabid dogs arguing
About what was left to who?
I sat on the floor watching
I heard my voice
"Wee Davy, they are only  
Things that the fright over."
So I watched them scuttling
Violence erupting often
 
After it was all over
I walked around her home
Only broken stuff left lying
Her and her love had been  
Ripped out a house soulless
Almost unrecognizable
Then the flood of tears came
But after a few days of this
I even had that beaten out of me
But my love for my Gran remained
And remains strong to this day
A very special woman
The most important thing
She taught me was that
Most people are rats
I know what she said was true
And I have been proving her right
Ever since
Written by David_Macleod (14397816)
Published | Edited 9th May 2019
Author's Note
Due to potentially devastating news This poem if late but I have decided not to disqualify me
All writing remains the property of the author. Don't use it for any purpose without their permission.
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