Smile Anyway
Sitting on a winter morning
in her sparse cold room
wearing an old shabby coat
topped with a wool blanket
an old woman is waiting
for her grandchildren
two little boys to baby-sit
while their parents are at work.
She thinks they will jump and play
and hopefully not get cold.
If they do she will put them in her bed
cover them with a patchwork quilt
and tell the stories they always ask to hear
although they know quite well.
Mom feeds them breakfast
before they leave home
without knowing that grandma
only has some hard old bread.
She never throws the bread away,
not even to the stray cats and dogs,
but always she tries to feed them
other scraps when she has them
She hoards the old dry bread
and dips it in her morning tea
making the bread softer
for her tired worn teeth
and tender gums.
When she was young
everybody loved her smile
her teeth like in a movie star.
She would laugh and say”
At least mine are natural…”
because they were so beautiful
and perfect, nobody believed.
Well, now they can believe it,
the way they look now.
Now she remembers to smile
with her lips closed.
Her grandchildren tell her:
“Grandma, we love you anyway.”
Return of the soldier
Return of the soldier
into the street
that does not exist
anymore. Emptiness.
Confusion. Shock.
He cannot breathe,
like in his first battle.
He sits on the rock
slowly coming back
accepting what he sees
as reality now
not thinking back:
what it looked like
before he left for the front.
There he learned:
prepare a bomb only after
you have a target.
Think ahead, not behind.
Past does not exist. You will be lucky
if you survive for the future.
You cannot think back
as you thought until now.
Reality must be accepted first
looking into it from all angles.
Why does he remembers
now, how he lost his wallet
at home, before the war?
His wallet was missing
when he was dressing up
to go out with his girl.
He turned out the house
but could not find it.
Finally under his pillow.
He could not believe that
he put it there, like a grandma
who did not have anything else
valuable. The wallet probably
was empty too.
Well, now. Yes. Now.
No more waiting. No
procrastinating anymore.
Ask all around.
They may be offended
and say: Would we find your wallet
and keep it? No. Who else and where
Look under your pillow. It was there last time
and you could not believe it.
You thought you never would put there,
only old grandmothers do it that way,
and then forget. You used to get
your pocket money that way,
as a child.
This must be a punishment!
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