Gram's Book Of Rules Poem by Mary Naylor

There were a cloud of dust

In the yard. It were little Dave and Mike

Having a fight. Dave’s lip was bust.

Mike’s eye was a sight, all puffy like.



“Tarnation! ” said Gram. Look at them fight.

Stop that fight now! You two fools, FREEZE!

I’m gonna get my book of rules and read it in this here daylight.”

Both children froze and watched Gram as her hair blew in the breeze.



Her Book of Rules was thick and worn.

It was heavy with a genuwine leather cover.

“Now, the rule I want is in here somere, ” she sworn.

Middle of a page, her finger hovered.



“Ah ha! Right here’s the page where it be.

DON’T FUSS, DON’T CUSS, DON’T FIGHT.

Put the book back on the shelf, Liz.”

And firmly she snapped the book shut.



I placed it back on the high shelf,

To be taken down only by Gram.

There, its wisdom on a neatly dusted shelf, dwelt,

To be treasured by what was left of her clan.



Wisdom fell from its pages like fruit from a vine.

At least twice a day, the book had its say.

My favorite was, “Pigs glut, but people dine.”

But when Gram wasn’t using it, always, quietly on the shelf it lay.



Now Gram was really very old.

One day, she clutched her chest

And fell. She just seemed to fold.

She was laid to rest, sleeping in her coffin, stiff and cold.



I was the oldest, and I said,

“Boys, we must never forget Gram,

Especially now that she be dead.”

Eyes full of tears, they said, “Yes Mam.”



She left me in charge of you, and her Book of Rules.

I’m going to study it now in my room.

I sat alone in my room, my heart in a duel.

To gather my courage, I swept the floor with Gram’s broom.



Finally, I opened it, and as I turned the pages, I gasped!

There was no print! Only blank pages where ever you looked!

Suddenly, it seemed like I saw Gram, and heard her laugh.

It always sounded like summer rain, falling in the garden nook.



I turned to the last page, brittle with age.

In Gram’s neat hand, she had left me a note.

“Liz, as you can see, there be no words on these here pages.

That’s cuz I traced them in your hearts, instead, ” she wrote.