Old Mr. Grumble Poem by Tom Courtney

And this is the story of old Mr. Grumble
He lives just a stone's throw, a toss and a tumble,
Down ‘round the corner at the end of the block
He sits in his house and stares at the clock

Old Mr. Grumble! He’s the meanest old man
He sits in the window and spits in a pan
He lives all alone except for his dog
Folks say that he found him one night in a fog

And the two are a pair, just took to each other
This mangy old man and his four-legged brother
They say that he built his own house with his hands
Not an angle is straight, and yet, there it stands

The paint is all pealed and the yard is a mess
Who is old Mr. Grumble? It’s anyone’s guess!

Some say that he came here a long time ago
Some say in a storm through a fierce blowing snow
People can't remember him not living there
That grumpy old man with the long grayish hair

When old Mr. Grumble comes out for his mail
He grabs it and goes like he lives in a jail
The postman was once unfortunate enough
To greet him and smile, but he turned with a huff

'Late as usual! ' was all he seemed to have said
As he scuttled on off, just shaking his head

I don’t think he's so happy, this crabby old man!
We all avoid him whenever we can
He's as close to a hermit as anyone knows
Wears a shabby old hat, all you see is his nose!

He comes into town every once in a while
I saw him in front of us in the grocery store aisle
Oh hush! Momma, it's him! (My momma was there.)
I grabbed at her dress, felt a change in the air

The time seemed to stop, like a silence it hovered
The store seemed a cave - a great rock uncovered
We all stood stone-still, with a feeling of dread
I thought that someone was sure to dropp dead!

Then suddenly it burst, this suspenseful bubble
When his grocery bag broke open - it really was trouble!
And the poor man just stared, as if in a fog
His fruit and his nuts and all of his grog

Fell tumbling down all around on the floor
His monthly supplies - all he needed and more
And we all just froze - we were stuck like with glue
Then I bent down to see something just hit my shoe

A big, red ripe apple it was hit me flush
When I looked up - Mr. Grumble had started to blush
We had all expected Mr. Grumble to... Well, howl
We had expected not a lot less than a growl

So I reached down and handed him his apple that dropped
As another rolled by at my feet - then all stopped
The apple he took and just rolled in his palm
He looked at me, said 'Thanks”. The whole world was calm

And I saw that a tear had welled up in his eye
He stared at me timidly - friendly, and shy
I couldn't imagine that I was his friend
But maybe an old broken heart can still mend

And I was so young - what could I do just a kid?
I don't know if there was something I did
But I think something happened that moment that day
I think Mr. “Grumble” just floated away

He just floated away to where old Grumble's go
When they forget what they’re mad at and don’t even know
And we never saw 'Old Mr. Grumble' again …
'Cause we all know him now - his real name is Ben