Grandparents remember the up-bringing:
     baby-sitting while parents
     work or are away...

     little hands reaching
     for the cookie jar
     and everywhere...

     greeting arms
     around grandma’s neck...

     a shadowing presence
     in grandpa’s shop asking
     “what’s that?”

It’s watching change:
     crawling to toddling
     gooing to talking
     following to leading
     pictures to reading.

It’s admiring:
     handmade gifts to grandparents
     school performances
     graduation achievements.

Grandparents are in the crowd
     when he comes
     to where he was brought up...
     remembering the time when...

It is the way
      of grandparents.