Six paper snowflakes form a lantern,
connected, cut from one large white sheet.
Cranes flow into Geese in the manner of Escher
where the candle light brightens the walls.
In her fever dream, grandmother starches
white paper collars with butterflies.
A music box constantly reminds her
of a long ago birthday and grandpa’s gifted hands.
On the bookshelves he crafted with Winnie the Pooh inlays
rests her collection of children’s books
read to each of the children,
grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Grandmother clutches the hand-tooled
leather bound family bible
with its history of births and deaths
recorded throughout the margins of Genesis.
The original cover sanded bare
by over four centuries of rough laborer hands.
copyright © 2019 Kenneth P. Gurney
Umflop 