She likes a boy
And her grandfather's in a hospital
Some six thousand miles away,
Surviving every day but
Slowly losing his smile.
She likes a boy
And her grandfather has thirty-six
Tumors on his spine,
Two in his pancreas
And says he feels fine but
He's refusing to eat.
She likes a boy
And her grandfather might not
Make it until Christmas,
Her grandfather who played chess
And laughed his chesty laugh
And poured her wine she wasn't
Really supposed to have.
She likes a boy
And she doesn't know if she should
Keep on living or
Pause,
Temporarily, and pray that
Her grandfather, who sat every morning
Reading the paper and jumping at her hello,
Could make it through.
She likes a boy
And her grandfather was never religious,
And he wants to live so badly,
Because he never wants to waste a second
Of what he has,
Because life is the only thing that is
Solid and certain.
She likes a boy
And she feels selfish, living
When her grandfather's life is so tentative,
But when she tries to
Pause,
She can't get life to stop.
She likes a boy
And she walks with him
And she thinks of her grandfather
And she lives
Because it's the only thing
She knows she can do.