Grandma's Advice Poem by Liilia Talts Morrison

Get back basics
uncover the source
early beginnings
no more remorse

Flighty the fancies
and frills of fair youth
old age soon beckons
with simplest of truths

Eat your potatoes
and meat if you will
grind wheat and millet
on stones in a mill

Say a good word
in a sentence or two
fritter not phrases
nor long speeches spew

Measure your bounty
In movable chests
let go of excess
in attic rats nests

Go to the river
and take off your shoes
whistling or singing
what’s there to lose?

Get back basics
uncover the source
treasured beginnings
no more remorse.