Oma

2015 5th-6th Grade Poetry Honorable Mention

“Eins zwei drei vier funf”
These words from her childhood
Repeated endlessly
Now that sentences were hard

In the living room of her apartment
In a building you could see from the Great Lawn
My brothers and I
Sitting on her comfy chairs
While we drew and played with antique toy trucks.
Eating her scrumptious sponge cake
In her elegant dining room.

In earlier years, she would ask me questions
She would praise me
Holding my hand tightly
Not letting go.

She came all the way from Frankfurt, Germany
To live in America
To escape.

She started a family
Pictures arranged on her grand piano
Faces and places known and unknown
She was my great grandma
Her name was Ruth.

In the hippo park
From her wheelchair
She watched us in content silence
While we climbed and chased.

Now she rests
A long life gone
So many questions—
Her stories still to unfold.