A Special Bond [revised] Poem by Margaret Alice Second

You and I share a unique bond, a conspiracy to carry
your grandma’s image in our hearts - she’s special to
us; we shall also honour your granddad’s legacy, not
cry foolishly when he seems near death - nor wax
grandiloquent or demean his painful memory of a
mother visiting cinemas, but never him in hospital

The role he played in family, affecting your mother,
shall be his secret unto the grave - and we’ll regard
the family’s mythological claims of legendary events
in the lives your grandparents as gossip not verified,
we only know what we saw ourselves; your grandma
always treated the two of us with kind courtesy & love

Whether she ever hit her own kids or not we’d never
witnessed; your granddad’s death will put an end to
the schism of love and hate which still keeps your
aunt and mother entranced…