The Grandmother

she doesn’t know what happened to the life she planned and hoped for

but somewhere on the route she lost her way

somewhere, over time, years voided girlhood and her reasons

while she watched and waited for those better days

those halcyon of yore that she was promised

by the fairy tales she’d heard and read, imbibed

where the prince is true and saves deserving maiden

and the perfect ending meets the perfect bride

instead she is the tarnished, disillusioned

more imprisoned now than then and saviours few

passed her way or loitered with intention

she was trapped inside and still the briars grew

confined inside a castle of contention

sojourner in a land that sees unveiled

every yarn that once began with once upon

nullifying happy ever after tales

a cinderella always, now grandmother

no fairy guardian to relieve the mess

pumpkins flourished, rats were rats and lizards reclined

there was no transformation, no new dress

surrogate to another willing victim

still the stories spun like threaded silk to bind

while she wondered what had happened, where salvation

where relief for careworn, worried mind

she fretted now and quite forgot to hope for

a future since her past had cast its spell

as she meditated where had all that time gone

then promises no more fables will she tell

she’ll let the child run ragged, even barefoot

oblivious to vows and promises that fail

she’s the mother of the son of errant daughter

and the child, though wild, is carefree, this tale tells

21 thoughts on “The Grandmother”

    1. She looked and sounded as if life had knocked her sideways, Susan. It had me wondering how much was down to her choices and how much to other factors. Either way, there were too many regrets for one life. So sad.

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  4. What a lucky day for selfish old me. It is not often that I get to read two exceptional poems almost back to back in my ‘reader’ thing, full of addictive reflective questions within sublime creative imagery on the self-same day.

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      1. The only plus is that the path of reflection is an easy one to get lost when travelling on. That is when the mind works best…subjective I know!

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  7. Ah, but underneath that journey is the building of something that will outshine any of those hopes and dreams Anne Marie.
    It may always seem to be a long way off, but in truth it is being created and polished as we speak. Slowly pushing us beyond our fears, to finally break through to see a world like no other.
    Everything is then different, a world full of beauty that before was drab. Where was all this hidden when we looked and looked? It was there, hidden by the walls that we build, waiting to show us the light that guides that journey.
    Are we in a fairy tale? Most certainly. But before it was built by stories…now it becomes us, real life.
    Step through the fears into the rabbit hole, and everything changes like never before.
    I have my top hat on…what are you going to wear 😀

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    1. I’ll wear my jeans and wield a sledgehammer for those walls, Mark. ‘Through the Looking Glass’ is probably a better analogy than fairy tales. That wee granny looked stunned at her crazy world. I just kept thinking that she should be enjoying a retirement and here she was in the role of surrogate mother, wondering how it came to this. All I could do was listen.

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      1. I know, it is hard to see another in such a place, and it is only because of what I’ve seen and understood that I can make that comment.
        I wish I could show you, but it will not be truly understood until it is felt, experienced and the wisdom of going through some of the most terrible things can be seen for what they are.
        That is why it always amazes me to ‘see’ in others what drives it beneath the uproar. My heart goes out to them because I know what they are going through and what it takes to get there…but finally they break through and realise it themselves…and the utter magnitude of it brings them to tears because THEY now realise what they have endured. And in that wisdom is found what we are all looking for…an incredible happiness, empathy because of what we gone through, and a love like no other.
        But it must be this way or it will not have the desired outcome.
        It’s like if I give you fifty dollars every day, after a while you get used to it and it has no meaning, but if you had to work hard to get it, it then takes on more meaning and you then appreciate what it took to get that money, and give it the respect it deserves.
        Our journey is the same, it is what we are all built on, that understanding and realisation that all that negativity from our younger years has built a wall like no other, constantly being reinforced by those we love and look up to, and our thoughts of ‘I’m not good enough, I can’t do that etc’ with very little real love of ourselves, and to break through it teaches much wisdom and understanding of what is truly in our hearts, and that ability to then love ourselves truly. It brings a peace and love like nothing else.
        And in that, as all mothers and fathers understand, is where guidance comes in. But we can only pass on what we know, fears and all, because that is what we have been taught by our parents…and on it goes…because it is needed on our journey, so that we can find that love inside us all.
        Um, I was just going to fire in a quick reply and go get a coffee momus, honest…but spirit had other ideas 🙂

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  10. What strikes me as I read this over again is that it may all just be random. After all, the choices we make when we are young have implications we can only see much later on. We are lucky if things work out decently, but will only know in those last days. If only there were a way to game out each decision in advance! Very though provoking, this post.

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