Remembering

I'm having a book reading, my first ever, and I am thinking...if only appa were here. But I will be reading some poetry and here is one I just wrote, especially for him.

Remembering

Despite the many frowns
and reprimands
through stormy teenage years
what stays with me
is the smile
tht always reached your eyes
and sometimes began there,
as you watched me
and heard me
arguing with the earnestness of youth
putting my heart and soul
into imaginary revolutions.
You knew then
as you probably knew now
that the real battles
in mind and body
get fought and won
despite our best intentions
and most earnest arguments
not because of them.
It’s your smile
that stays with me
when I drive past
the short stretch
of pavement
where you took your last walk;
and it’s your smile
that walks with me
as I take my evening turns
on a terrace
that no longer hears
the uneven tread
of your blue-slippered feet.