In loving memory of my grandfather, W.P.Strube

A Distant Death

A man I barely knew died today.
Of all possible days, it is also my mom’s birthday.
Of all days he could have died,
Why on the day that she was given life?

I thought I knew him so well.
I wrote him cards, telling him that he was swell.
My family would visit him every five or six years.
When we were small, we would sit and watch the deer.

I sat by his bed as he slipped away.
He looked like he was already dead.
They said that he was still hanging on,
But it looked to me like he was gone.

Now a year later, I sit by a grave,
But not his grave, his friend’s grave.
I stare at the words “R.G. LeTourneau” and cry.
I missed my Grandpa, why did he die?

I felt so close, yet I did not know
Who was this man I called Grandpa.
I started to see parts of his past
Like a book he gave me, his final gift.

Mover of Men and Mountains, with a cover in need of a mend.
Grandmother told me the story of their old friends.
My grandfather was close to them until they went to heaven.
Now that he has gone to join them, so they are together once again.

I sat there crying about how little I knew
About the men who influenced the course my life took.
I pray for the day when I will meet my grandfather again.
I will sit with him and listen, and maybe get to know him.

For now I comfort my mother and family who lost,
A father, grandfather, husband, and a great man of God.
My family, now gathered together to lessen the chance
of having another distant death on our hands.

~Rachel Gullman