He held the rich brown earth in the palm of a large hand from which his crops grew. tasted the smoked country ham meat, ate freely of the cornbread, the peach cobbler, sweet potato pie, turnip greens, while laughing a laugh like pure rich music. I thought him to be a glass that would never fall nor break, a flower with need of rain nor soil a daily tower of gentle strength. He embraced all of life's joys and pains like a man. He went forth with gifts and sought to anoint the world with  the same love that anointed his family. Grandpa Penny tried to make me look beyond my foolish youth, so that i might understand the ways of wisdom. Now looking back over the long passing of years, I realize that he opened my blinded eyes, offering me a chance to see life face to face. And I closed my eyes and let time move this solitary man to another emotional place and cried, because I didn't want to deal with expectation and far away hope. But now brighter  is the way for Grandpa Penny taught me that truth never lies and no lie lasts forever.