Grandparents

This is an older poem that first appeared online here.  I've altered a couple of words.  (Please note, the first part is tongue-in-cheek, something that wasn't recognised when it was first published.)

Grandparents are best kept in separate houses.

Each pair thinks their mutual grandchild is theirs

And theirs alone. 

Sharing is a no-no, and the thought that others have

Input on a grandparent level is

Disturbing, to say the least.

It’s a strange thing that we two grandparents

Can give our whole hearts to our grandchildren

And yet, four other sets of grandparents

Have also given their whole hearts away.

Why aren’t the grandchildren

Swamped with all that love? 

Wouldn’t you think that the parents’ love,

And the paternal grandparents’ love,

And the maternal grandparents’ love,

And, in at least one case,

The great-grandparent’s love

Would be like a huge enveloping balloon,

A blimp full of love that made it hard to breathe?

Apparently not.

With childlike ease the grandchildren

Absorb it all and have room for more.

Phew!  Love like a whole world.

Phew!  Love like the universe expanding.

Phew!  Love as broad as eternity.

It’s just as well for grandparents to stay

Separate.

Otherwise the rest of the world might begin to

Soak up all that love and set itself alight.