Poems & Stories

DAS

My granddaughters came today.
For their birthdays
we throw them a small party
with a cake.
I make up treasure hunts for them
with clues and hidden presents.
As they grew older
I made the puzzles harder,
because I want to challenge them.
I don't see them very often anymore
they are so busy with school
and other things
but before Christmas
I will make sugar cookies
and they will visit to decorate some.
It's hard to know what to buy them
but they like makeup,
so I buy them that.
I make sure the house is decorated
when my wife's card group comes over
to play bridge,
whatever holiday it is.
I hang the lights
and raise the flag outside.
Perhaps I'll make sandwiches this year
and leave out snacks
instead of cooking a big dinner.
Ah, it's getting late, nearly eight o'clock.
I'll finish up this poem
sitting at my computer
next to the seashell display
of shells collected from Florida beaches
over many trips, arranged neatly
in a spiral shell design.
I'll head to bed, but not to sleep,
and once again
I'll read a book aloud
until my wife falls asleep.