In Remembrance

I smell gardenia and touch its lustrous leaves,
I remember your garden and your gardenias.
Gardenia: the scent of your home, your love, Grandpa Ralph.

In Church, I touch the Rosary beads as you so often did in life.
When I stepped into the Vatican, where you never walked,
I felt your spirit fluttering around me,
A frizzy energy of excitement.
And each time I pray,
You are with me, Grandma Florence,
My guardian angel.

When I have trouble falling asleep,
I remember the Dumbo stories you told us
About clumsy Longneck, Croc, and Dumbo with the chocolate toothpaste--
A bedtime series that every child dreams of, but so few hear.
And when my mortality hits me like a baseball in my chest,
I remember your words,
"If it happens to everyone, it can't be bad."
You continue to calm me, Grandpa Dick.

Every year at this time, I light candles
In remembrance of you all,
To bring your spirits into the new year with me.
Yet I think about you everyday
So you are present in the electric impulses in my brain,
An energy similar to the one you had in life,
But in different form.
Your energy stays with me still
And will remain with me for the rest of my days.