Country Cottage

Country Cottage

Grandma’s Home by Nicole Ryan

There’s a place
where grandma sat
on the porch
with a rocking chair
a big heart
and a smile that didn’t care
if your shoes were wet
if you feet were muddy
if you face was dirty
and when you were hurting
she’d pick you up
and carry you inside
in her big arms
she’d sit you on the table
where you never ever could sit
otherwise
and she’d pat
and dab
and whisper
it’s o.k
it’s alright
with a bandaid
stuck on just right
and she’d send you back out
into the world
and you’d run with a limp
but you’d soon forget
about the pain
there were games
to be played.

That house was always so warm.

When Poppy died
Grandma still kept it warm
she let us do things
that he never did
and she never got upset
or said
“Don’t slam the damn door!”
she never ever said
anything less than love.

That house was always so warm.

The yard was big
and the trees were bigger
we’d climb
and dangle stars from the limbs
and bells from the twigs
and we’d play outside
at that time of day
when it wasn’t quite dark
when it wasn’t quite light
and we’d hide and seek
and squeel and get giddy
running around
through the bells and stars.

We’d go to Grandma’s after school
and run toward the smell
of the hot cakes
of the love
of Grandma’s perfume
and we opened that front gate
with pride
and a sigh
because it always made that same noise
to let us know
we were at the right house
it was home.

We knew everyone wanted to live there
because that house was always so warm.

People would look and smile
and stop and take a flower from the front
sometimes
the kids would steal
pickets from the fence
and play
rah
rah
rah
all the way home
like pirates
and prisoners
and war men
having fun
when things weren’t serious
and days were long
but never long enough
I knew
that they were taking a picket
home to their parents
so that they could start building a house
just like Grandma’s;

because that house was always so warm.

© ryan

Country Cottage belongs to the following groups:

Architectural Photography and Rural NSW Available for sale as

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