Bapa and Grammy

By andrew white

I want to love you like my Bapa Loves my Grammy.

I want you to never have to pump your

gas because I am always there. I want to hold

your wrinkled hand against my wrinkled hand

as we walk down main street in Blowing Rock

North Carolina. I want to always open your car door

and drive you around. I want to clean off your gardening

tools without you noticing. I want to build you a shed where

you can do what you love. I want to take walks with

you as we listen to the sound of birds chirping

in the evening. I want to mow the grass so it matches your

flowers. I want you to help me grow in my faith.

I want to take you to my junior prom and only love you

from that moment on, I want to go to Indiana

University with you, but any college will do. I want to

have children and grandkids that look up to our love,

ones that want our love and model their love after ours.

but most of all, I want you to love me like my Grammy

loves my Bapa.

CONTEXT/BACKSTORY:

I wrote this poem after I visited my grandparents back in High School. I was 16 at the time and up to that point it was probably the best poem I had ever written. It is still one of my favorite poems. I am 20 now and yesterday was their 59th anniversary. They have always celebrated their anniversaries different than other people. Usually you here of people going on trips or going on dates, but not Grammy and Bapa, they celebrate their anniversaries more like Birthdays. When I wrote this poem, it was not about anyone in particular, but the general concept of love like theirs is extremely special. Years later I was talking with a couple of my friends on spring break, and we were talking about how each of our grandparents met and fell in love. The courtship stage of that generation is so special. This poem is mostly a reminder to myself that love is real because I’ve seen it in them.