Grandfather Poem by G. Akanji Olaniyi

He used to sit there
Yes! Over there
He used to smoke pipe
Yes! Black ceramic pipe
He used to give some dry smile
Yes! Very mischievous dry smile
He used to call children to his side
Yes! There was nobody that came to his side
He used to stay alone
Yes! Keeping watch and doing the assessments all alone
That was grandfather; we all called him grandfather
But he was never related, at all, to our father
He was as old
As much as we were told
Grandfather to everyone
The responsibility of everyone
Whatever he would eat
All the time, as he would seat
Yet he talked very little
Because he knew people needed just a little
He is dead and gone now
We will miss him, at least, for now! ! !

OLANIYI G. AKANJI
(c) 2015