Farewell Old Rockingchair Poem by Chris Ernest Nelson

You were my grandma's rocker,
her own ancient seat.
You counted off the thousand times
she held me softly and cooed,
"I love you, little one."

You held her in your gentle sway
as her long journey was
unwound by the perfect meter
of your obscure clock.
She smiled with her eyes closed.

You sat empty and still for a long time
after she was carried away
by somber strangers,
witnessed by our tears
and the echo of her private smile.

Polished like a shrine, but lonely to use,
at last you came with boxes and blankets
to follow me from old home to new home
and given a place of honor.

Basking in the summer light in your place
by the great window,
you welcomed to your shining station
a new child and a new mother's song,
"I love you, little one."

A thousand times, I love you,
again and again, I love you,
to the meter of your gentle sway.
Mother and child and rocking chair -
Grandma's chant echoes still.

Today I carried your broken frame
to the county dump.
Your dark fragments radiant with
warm memories that nearly hurt
in their overwhelming sweetness.
I looked back only once.

Farewell old rocking chair.
You know I will miss you.