Going to Grandma's

1950's Kelowna

photo by Don Collier 

In childhood,
at school's end,
I was put on a train, alone,
in Vancouver,
to make the trip to Grandma's house
in Kelowna
for the summer.

In those days
the porters wore white gloves.
My mother would give one
five dollars and ask him
to keep an eye on me.
He did.
They were always kind.

I loved the little cot
rolled out at bedtime,
and going to sleep
to the comforting
clickety-clack,
loved watching the small
dusty towns roll past
the window.

At the other end,
was my thin Grandpa,
robust Grandma,
and a whole slow, sleepy,
reassuring summer,
lake-scent and bullrushes,
wet bathing suits on the line,
the canvas hammock
under the weeping willow,
beside the small garden
full of sweet peas and pinks,
where I dreamed away
the long, slow hours.

In childhood,
it was always summer.


for Sumana's prompt at Midweek Motif: Summer