Grandfather Chair

I don’t know how to say goodbye

When we never said hello

I arrived and you were already here

So I think I took to you being around-

Always

In your leather rocking chair.

You’d dab your mouth

With the back of your hand

Even though a towel rested upon your knee

Where most of thirteen naughty grandkids sat,

At some point,

While you ate your dinner

You never spanked us

Because I think you recognised the mischief that some inherited

From you

But

You chased me once

After I chugged your drink

Because I loved you

And you loved your drink

And in the evenings, you’d sit for hours

All amenities within an arms reach (necessities included):

Like the TV remote, a good jazz cassette and your family

As you rocked us all

In the arms

Of your grandfather chair

So as you walk on ahead,

With your Johnny Walker camber

Please smile at us tonight

With a twinkle in your eye

And sip it on the rocks,

In your white pyjama top