Nana

 
 
my dear, dear Nana,
now dead and buried
 
such an awfully 
long, long time ago,
 
do you really think
I have forgotten you?
 
on the contrary,
at your memory
 
my heart yet throbs:
 
I remember both you …
and the while you taught me—
 
a snot-nosed brown-eyed
dark-haired six-year-old—
 
so sweetly … thoughtfully
 
just how to proper
ope an olden book
 
of much-loved collections
of class’cal poetry
 
by a long-dead author,
at Arco’s public library