#grandad
A chess board
Piece by piece
Pawn to E4
Queen to F6
Checkmate
Colours swirl
Insects bite my bones
Am I safe now?
Will it end?
Checkmate
Dominoes
Piece by piece
Knock on wood
Check the bone pile
I won again
Hearts yearn
Time falls
Am I safe now?
Yes
I won again
Periodic table puzzle
Piece by piece
Elements collide
Time ticks
Finished
Grandfather clock ticks
Leaves bustle
Ants crawl
This time has to end
Finished
Apr 21
Apr 21, 2026 at 7:03 AM UTC
As greetings go
You need to go
A long way to outdo
'Grandad!' at Christmas.
Dec 24, 2025
Dec 24, 2025 at 2:28 PM UTC
A light came into the world,
Wearing a long dress,
The nicest smile,
Carrying the greatest heart of gold.
That light had a son:
Our best friend, father and Grandad,
The most wonderful other half
To an already lovely woman.
Together they had a family,
Joining heritages,
Crossing seas,
Found themselves in Leeds.
But that was only the beginning of the journey:
Between the weekend trips with their good friends,
The cruises where they laughed and danced,
Wearing his best bow tie;
To the sofa days,
Keeping up with the Gaelic.
A man with many loves,
And Ireland remained one.
I remember when Grandad would visit home,
And he would share stories of their travels.
He was so kind-hearted, and so accepting.
His mother's light shone on him.
Years pass us too quickly.
Thank you for being a great father to my father and his siblings, and the wives and husband they love too.
Thank you for giving Granny such a wonderful journey in this life. May her voice still linger in your ears.
And thank you for being our Grandad. Our days with you will never be forgotten.
***
Mar 19, 2024
Mar 19, 2024 at 1:53 PM UTC
I rest, as once more
my legs are crossed upon the floor;
the old armchair not looms but graces
the room, and our two listening faces.
Conversation leads the wane,
the world waxes, yet I remain,
the armchair not yet old but so;
solemn comes and solemn goes.
But long since years have passed me by,
nineteen there, twenty nigh,
and still the armchair's yet to fade;
in grace and hope, and heart pervade.
And silent sit I lend my ear
to stories told first time this year,
of decades past and my existence
just a spark, universal resistance.
Generations part the seas
like Moses, only I believe
in stories told from familiar tongues,
not sung, and yet exist in song.
The armchair rests in praise and strength,
the day shall pass, familiar length;
and that familiar person there
much to rely, and all to share.
In trust, in grace, in hearted love,
and stories from which I will carve
a narrative in which I fit;
one day this armchair, I shall sit.
May 25, 2022
May 25, 2022 at 9:55 PM UTC
I wonder why it took another mans tears for your ears to open to the truth.
Years I’ve spent crying over you,
Getting drunk off the whiskey residue on your skin,
Spinning in and out of your life
Alarmed and dizzy.
A meteorite that never quite hit the mark.
How were you to know you used to be the sun,
That you’d cast us into an ice age?
We will orbit you until there is nothing,
Spinning ourselves into oblivion.
I wrote once that your hands cradled dust,
But that doesn’t do justice the worlds your hands crafted
Or the lives you lived.
A father, first and foremost.
It saddens me I will never know all your children.
I doubt you feel despair that you never knew them either.
Feb 18, 2022
Feb 18, 2022 at 7:48 PM UTC
A glimpse of grandad,
he left immediately --
yet I still smell him.
Jan 8, 2022
Jan 8, 2022 at 3:19 AM UTC
If grandad really loved me...
(he told me so, he said)
He recited scary stories
As I lay in my bed.
He lit the fire that warmed me
And kept it burning bright,
He gave me cheer throughout the day
And comfort through the night.
He shared my weekend tea with me,
We two a jolly team;
Pouring out the ginger beer
And serving cakes and cream.
His cleverness he lent to me
And showed me what to do
He taught me how to spell my name
Keep my own council too.
But granddad never told me,
And I could ne'er perceive;
If grandad really loved me so
Why, then, did he leave?
ASJ
Apr 17, 2020
Apr 17, 2020 at 10:53 AM UTC
the root was missing,
but paired with the grand prefix,
depicts all I need.
Jan 9, 2020
Jan 9, 2020 at 1:55 PM UTC
Sitting in your old arm chair,
With a devil may care,
Attitude.
Talking about the ingratitude
Of youth.
Watching TV,
Eating microwaveable meals,
Grumpa,
I still love you,
I remember the times when I was young,
and you helped me,
when I was stung,
by a wasp,
or fell over.
Life is hard,
it makes you,
grumpy and
lonely,
Please think of the things you’ve shown me,
Rather than talking about the things that make you despair
I know behind the passive aggression you still care,
I know I sometimes take the ****
But really Grumpa,
I can see all your tricks,
There is still, to my surprise,
magic behind those eyes,
And bedtime stories waiting to be read.
Grumpa,
Don’t lose the thread
We all need a grandfather like you,
For you have all the experience,
You will know what to do!
Dec 9, 2019
Dec 9, 2019 at 10:17 AM UTC
my earliest memory of yeye (grandfather)
is one with the garden
it was once a large space of emptiness, yet
sometimes emptiness is not a lack of but an opportunity
for planting and for growing
in this garden he planted memories
looping a hose around the garden suddenly created new meaning
chasing after turtles my cheeks turned rosy and drenched in the sun the details are so clear
it’s like watching a motion picture in slow motion, the speed of everything melting into a single emotion i can only describe as childish joy.
and when the sun slept the garden was still alight
with firecrackers and sparklers
the sizzling sound of springtime spirit
he kept the garden glowing, bustling and radiating with life.
as i grew the flowers did too,
a new type of rose, fruit, bud each time i came back
and this is where i learn
how life begins and ends
just like flowers we must seek the sun
wilt and
fall
root and rise
and only then
can we bloom
and he bloomed so bright that the Lord hand picked him
and so he may have left his own garden
but he has not wilted
he only continues to bloom
this time in the garden of heaven.
May 20, 2019
May 20, 2019 at 11:01 AM UTC
No, I don’t have a boyfriend.
I don’t have the desire to see another end;
after exhaustive months of getting to know
a fictionalised persona, fragmented, so
No, I don’t have a boyfriend.
The last one hurt and you didn’t see,
but that doesn’t proclaim the scar less prominent to me,
my feelings numb, I no longer crave the intimacy - detrimental to me.
No, I don’t have a boyfriend.
The last boys touch was for him not for me
and my body still screams cause he won’t let it be
and you’ll never understand as the trauma won’t subside
and my self esteem is diminished by his lies.
No, I don’t have a boyfriend.
I humoured a guy who gave it a try
but all I could feel was nothing inside
and when someone bumps into me sauntering by
the unwanted touch still makes me cry.
No, I don't want a boyfriend.
Oct 14, 2018
Oct 14, 2018 at 5:33 PM UTC
Walking into the room
My mind goes boom
There he lie
Dead
As I try
Not to cry
I realise he's
Dead
I'm calm
My mind feels no harm
am I sick in the head
my grandad lays
Dead
And I show no emotion
brewing inside me is a
Potion of feelings ready explode
it hits he again
oh **** he's
Dead
but instead of crying I
hold it in am
dying inside
my mind is on a rolercoaster ride
what do I do
should I hide from my
Dead
grandad instead of any upset
I feel glad he had
a great long life
but now he's
Dead
from this day on I will strive
to be alike my
Dead grandad
Jul 7, 2018
Jul 7, 2018 at 9:06 AM UTC
from the tears,
to the gold.
to the years you hold...
or 'held'.
so easy I forget...
or 'forgot'
Amber, Amber you,
now and forever,
folded into gold.
earthly embrace,
ground must fold...
rest my dear
the years were great.
for now though,
those Amber dreams await...
Jun 25, 2018
Jun 25, 2018 at 11:54 AM UTC
I'm all alone
In this bright blue sea
That's turning grey in the dark
But I could cope
I used to
But now I can't
I'm alone on the wooden dock
Where boats lie on the sides
With shells and seaweed
Scattered around them
The sand used to feel so warm
Now it's colder than the ice cream
You'd give me and you'd laugh
Your deep gentle laugh
That I missed so dear
" hello poppet! "
You would say as I would hug him
Kiss his wrinkled and rough cheek
I'd hang upside down on my bed
As I wished him goodnight
You would smile and chuckle
On those lonely nights
You'd fly wooden airplanes
In the green parks
You'd throw them so far away
Now I fly alone
No one to turn to
No one to love
Your hair was silver as ice
Your smile wider
Than a child at play
You were a giant
You were so tall and strong
Yet you were so gentle
So kind and loving
You stuck a plaster and kiss
Upon my bleeding knee
And wiped my tears away
And gave me another cornetto
But now I'm still bleeding
And I have tears streaming down
My broken and crumpled face
How could you leave?
Why did you leave?
I love you...
Oct 20, 2017
Oct 20, 2017 at 1:47 PM UTC
Grandad never spoke.
Never spoke of war;
his war; 1914 -18 war.
Trenches, barb wire,
mud, blood.
Never spoke of it.
Drive the horses
and guns.
5'4" tall, fine framed.
Tattoo for love of Nellie
on his right arm.
Never spoke of what he saw.
Saw blood, mud, bodies,
horses and guns.
Granddad was quiet.
Soft spoken. Nightmares
haunted until he was woken.
Granddad never spoke.
War is no talking matter
-no joke.
Aug 31, 2017
Aug 31, 2017 at 2:40 PM UTC
Don't look so sad,
Grandad said
when I was a kid
and feeling bad.
Worse troubles at sea,
he informed,
gazing at me
with his greying eyes,
all that's born
of a mother dies.
And in the war
I saw many a young soldier
who cried for his mother
before he died;
that's the way of it:
what will fit will fit,
you can only touch
what you reach,
no matter what the priest
may say or preach.
Don't feel so bad,
Granddad said,
when I was a kid
and feeling sad.
Aug 11, 2017
Aug 11, 2017 at 7:35 AM UTC
Grandad seldom spoke of war
or war's ways or the senseless
slaughter, but when he did it
was in a hushed voice, the words
handled carefully, as if they like
grenades could explode if handled
bad or carelessly. He talked of
mud and lice and cold and damp
and the slow slog to the front.
In hushed tones as if some secret
he was unfolding, he told of sounds
of shells, cries, blood and smells.
Did you **** the Bosch Granddad?
I asked as little boys do or may.
He looked at the fire where flames
tongued the coals and didn't say.
Jul 28, 2017
Jul 28, 2017 at 4:54 PM UTC
I see you
You lurk beneath the skin
Razor teeth shining through otherwise empty words
I see you in the malice
In the anger and confusion
Contorting the human mask you wear
I see you in the hatred
Growing stronger
As together you learn to hate yourself
Each passing moment you are brighter
Your host duller
Although you hide it well
And I am afraid
Afraid that one day
I will see you
And you see me
In a mirrors reflection
That one day you will ravage my mind
Tear away all knowledge and perception
That I endear
As I burn my loved ones
With your bitter tongue
And slowly forget them entirely
Until I become you
And then can no longer see you
As now i have seen you
Take another's skin
Remove him from his family
Take his pride, his mind
His love for all
And isolate us
In our islands of fear
Frozen, we can do nothing at all
I realise that there is no happy ending
There is no way back now
I always thought there were second chances
But he is leaving us, painful piece by piece
So fast, yet slow
It's unbearable
For now I have seen you
And I can never forget
The look in your eyes
The words you've said
I see the void
I see living death
And at least for now
You cannot see me yet
Aug 11, 2015
Aug 11, 2015 at 7:36 PM UTC
The sadness the fears,
Could not be expressed in tears,
When we were told we no longer had years,
Months,turning to weeks,
Countless disturbed sleeps,
Ended with several giant weeps,
The man we knew, his time was through,
A kiss on the cheek as he lay there asleep
His eyes no longer open, Many hearts broken.
Jul 9, 2016
Jul 9, 2016 at 5:45 PM UTC
I met my girlfriends family today
Northerners
It was her grandad on her father's sides
Ninetieth birthday but you couldn't tell!
Congratulations
We go out for a meal, enjoying the laughs
They thought I couldn't eat
The giant whaler portion
Of fish and chips
"It's got nowhere to go!"
"Y'don't get fish like that down south"
"You'll never finish that."
"Are you struggling?"
"Good luck with that!"
I only went and ate it all didn't I
Proved them wrong and now I think
I may never ever eat again
A fully suppressed appetite forever
All to make a point and to be
Accepted
To be fair though,
We don't get fish like that down south and
I would eat the giant whaler portion again
Provided someone's doubt in my ability to
Actually eat it swayed me from the large
Jul 2, 2016
Jul 2, 2016 at 2:01 PM UTC