Life is a Fragile Thing

I remember 

my great grandfather 

having butterscotch candies 

every time I saw him 

I was around 3 years old 

but I still remember 

seeing him before we went to Canada 

because I cut my finger beforehand 

and I don't remember 

how I was told he passed away 

bur I remember asking my great grandmother 

about it, almost like an interview 

And then 4 or 5 years later 

I found out my papa had cancer 

but it didn't really register 

I was in the 3rd grade 

Death still didn't have a meaning 

my last memory of him, he was pale 

but still happy, just wore down 

but I remember the day he died 

and how my father reacted 

that was one of the few times 

I had ever seen my dad cry 

My great grandmother 

she had quite a few health issues 

and that lead to a few hospital visits 

the longest one was her last 

and I was almost in 6th grade 

the last time I saw her, 

she wasn't conscious 

she looked asleep 

and we already got the phone call 

a day or two before 

that she had 3 days at most 

mom told us to tell her we loved her 

I prayed to whatever god there isn't 

that she could hear is 

that time it registered 

but not completely 

not until two years later 

And then the end of my sophomore year 

my other great grandmother 

died in the nursing home 

I didn't see her 

the last memory I had of her 

was on Mother's Day 

and she didn't look the same 

she just babbled, and no one understood her 

I was worried I would see my gram cry 

And that I just might break too.