pictured words

Visit with Grandpa

Walking up my street,
I see a man walking toward me.
Aww.  Looks like Grandpa, I think,
knowing it couldn’t be.
As we get closer, there is no mistaking.
Yes, it is Grandpa. 
I don’t want to wake up, and miss out.
He approaches me.
“Grandpa!”
He gives me a hug.
As is nearly always the case when I dream
of the dead, all senses are engaged. 

“Grandpa, what are you doing here?”
He says he came to tell me not to worry about
circumstances that were consuming me. 
Everything would be just fine.

Then he says, “You know I can’t stay.” 
Yes, of course.
I just don’t want to lose him again
so quickly. 

“But I will come back,” he assures. 
He hugs me again, and,
just that quick,
he’s gone.

My long, detailed dream continues.
It seems to last a good portion of the night.

Suddenly, there he is again. 
This time, he doesn’t speak. 
His silence stills me,
while it declares a grand reassurance.

I wake from the dream,
recognizing it hadn’t been merely a dream.

And I smile.
When he said he would return,
I hadn’t realized he meant
that quickly.
That night.
That dream. 

© Marie Elena Good 2023