end of summer

Too fast the summer leaves us, we kiss

our grandparents good-bye and my uncle Robert

is there waiting

to take us home again.

When we hug our grandfather, his body

is all bones and skin. But he is up now,

sitting at the window, a blanket covering

his thin shoulders.

Soon, I’ll get back to that garden, he says.

But most days, all I want to do

is lay down and rest.

We wave again from the taxi that pulls out

slow down the drive—watch our grandmother,

still waving,

grow small behind us and our grandfather,

in the window,

fade from sight.