Susan Rosenberg

OUR ADULT GRANDCHILDREN

How slowly………
imperceptibly
we moved from center
to periphery;
Their visits now, I think,
stem from duty
more than pleasure
as we ply them
with too much food and
stories they have heard before;
We struggle to understand
their lively conversations
about a world
that is not ours;
and we laugh with them
without quite knowing why

—from Rattle #26, Winter 2006