Pragmatism overtakes family tradition 
Quietly, I meditate past and dear memories 
Smokey Gray, along with his cousin, Charles, and I 
Walked out on the front property, the cedar 
 
The perfect size for our cozy eight hundred square 
Foot mountaintop cottage, a tall and slender tree 
Soon to be adorned with a lifetime of love’s 
Reminiscences, a spirit of its own, an evergreen 
 
Icon for eternal promises, a song for New Year  
Hopes and promised new life, a communion to  
Be fully lived, poignant treasure of life’s endless 
Love, softly, a Mozart CD plays reverent  
 
Tranquility and I think of them, and mist up 
Gone now, my dear grandmother, the rock of my childhood,  
My dad who always lassoed his dreams, and Pete 
A charming gentleman, my favorite one to beat  
 
At family games of Tonk, Smokey Gray’s dear old pop  
Our dinner table, so empty, so big, so large 
Their sweet countenances so very missed, as 
 I drag that dried up cedar tree to the bonfire  
 
Up on the hill, a peaceful place, encircled gates 
At heaven’s place, I feel them all blowing soft kisses
Debora Short
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/blowing-soft-kisses-couplets-2/