grandma was always rather eccentric
daddy liked to call her a “tough old
bird”
she liked to sit in her chair,
watch wrestling and cuss at Reagan
and tell stories of the Yankees in their
hey-day
and I listened,
but not like I should have
the alziemers took the life right out
of her
oh, the doctors never gave a firm diagnosis
content to blame her mental deterioration
on old age
but inside we all know what it was;
it broke my heart to see her in the
hospital
that wasn’t my grandma
but only a shell of the vibrant woman
she once was
that day when the phone rang
early in the morning, somehow I knew
I knew she was in a better place--
away from the pain
and the confusion
and though it hurt
to let her go
I did