SOON Online Magazine

Poems

Downstreet with Grandma
by

Jacklynn MacKenzie

When she planned to go to town,
Grandma always used to say -
"I have to go "downstreet" today,
There are some bills I have to pay."
I'd watch, as her white hair
she'd comb, then twist into a bun;
A hairnet she put to keep it in place,
Then her blue, flowered dress she would don.
A pearl necklace, of blue and white,
A cameo broach pinned neatly in place,
A pair of black laced shoes on her feet,
Not a drop of makeup on her face.
She was a plain and simple lady,
But only beauty did I see,
When I watched her get ready
To go "downstreet"
Or I sat upon her knee.

Often, I would plead with her,
"Please, Grandma, can I come too?
I won't be a bother, I promise,
If you let me go with you."
But promises were so hard to keep,
Especially at Woolworth's Store.
They had the best milkshakes in town,
Pretty doll clothes and lots more.

I'd beg and I'd plead,
"Please, Grandma, please,
Just buy me one pair of shoes for my doll?
Or a pretty dress with polka dots for her to wear
Then I won't bother you at all."
"Now dear, you promised when you left the house
that you'd be no bother to me,
Now be a good girl, get up on this stool,
And share a nice milkshake with me."

So up I would get on the stool next to Gran,
To have the best chocolate milkshake, I confess,
But I had my mind set -
And I just had to get
Those doll shoes and that polka dot dress!
With tear-filled eyes, I'd beg and beg,
And Grandma would slowly give in;
So off we would go, to the doll clothes row,
And off I would go with a grin.
So happy I was, and so thankful I'd be
that she bought me what I wanted so much -
Something she knew meant so much to me,
Now it was time to go home in a rush.
It wasn't very often she'd let me have my way;
She was strict, but she was loving,
But there were exceptions along the way.

Thank you Grandma for caring,
For giving so much to me;
For sacrificing, teaching and loving
And helping me to see,
That the thing in life that means the most,
Is not the thing you buy,
The thing in life that means the most
Is love, like the kind
I always found in your eyes.

In loving memory of a dear grandmother,
Mrs. Winnifred Calder


© 2004 Jacklynn MacKenzie

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