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My Grandfather (for Nono & Mom)

by Lee Cadesky

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My grandfather was born
Eliyahu Benyakar
In Thessaloniki,
Some time after the Great War
I wasn’t sure exactly when
Either way, everyone called him Al
I called him Nono.

My grandfather came to this country
Penniless and hungry,
Penniless and hungry,
well that’s not strictly true,
that’s just how he left the camps
Then he traded a fourth grade education

For a transatlantic destination
And a brother he didn’t even know was still alive.
But their numbers came one after another

And that was proof enough
Because the rest was gone
And then he met my grandmother
And he sold her a dress and a typewriter
F walkdown
But she hooked him down for his
Dm7
whole damn life
And I like to think she got the better deal

And she is still alive
And I inherited her name and all the
kindness her selfish genes would give

They had three kids
And they each had three kids
And one of those kids had three kids.
Cause some people never learn
And love never skips a generation
It just grows geometrically

My grandfather always had
candies in his pockets
Candies in his pockets
And numbers on his arm

And a tattoo of his sister and some flags from home
But I only saw those when we thought that he
was dying

My grandfather did in twenty seventeen
He got dizzy going ‘round the sun and had an
underdose of nicotine
But he stuck around long enough
To meet his great granddaughter
And then he died.

Surrounded by his family that loved him
Surrounded by his family that loved him
Surrounded by his family that loved him

And we buried him together
And we said the blessings together
And we drank Crown Royals together
And we cried together
And then we cried again alone

But because he’d forged his records
And ‘cause the Nazis were bastards
We never knew his true birth day
So we guessed and said that he was
born in spring

But he’d kept a secret all his life
So secret he didn’t even know
Just one last little parting gift

It was the same day as my mother’s
It was the same day as my mother’s
It was the same day as my mother’s
all along

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released April 17, 2020

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Lee Cadesky Toronto, Ontario

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