Be still...
these are the words
Grandma Dot would say
in her raspy old lady voice
as my sister and I
laid on each side of her,
unable to surpress our giggles,
our disbelief that Grandma
was actually going to
take a nap with us.
Be still, girls.
When we became quiet,
and listened to
the roar of the train
on the nearby tracks,
children laughing outside
at the house across the street
with the Zenith sign and
the garage full of t.v.'s,
the circadas chirping,
breezes in the trees,
we were lulled to sleep
next to grandma in her
housedress and hairnet
with her plump arms
and saggy boobs...
I would give anything
to be a little girl again
wrapped in that love
that I thought of as
"old woman"...
My sister and I
used to mimic her,
"Be still now!
I said...be still!"
If only we knew then
how much we would
miss her now,
that we could never
go back to being
two little girls
laying in a bed
with our grandma,
and listening to
