<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">My Grandmother’s Hair<b class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><b class=""><br class=""></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">I wash and comb her hair<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Sweep up long gray strands,<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">an old world bun <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">reminiscent of a former life<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">She leaves her family, <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;" class="">her home<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;" class="">her country<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;" class="">her language<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">A wife, she births five children<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">A widow, she raises them through a depression and a war<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">She never returns <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Never sees the family she left behind<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">She sits quietly on a kitchen stool <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Head downcast, hands folded<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">I wash and comb her hair<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Long gray strands<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Fall silently at my feet <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Like the sorrows of her life <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">A life of leaving and loss<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">A life of living and loving<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Now I weave this legacy into my life<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">As long g<font class="">ray strands of hair<o:p class=""></o:p></font></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Fall silently at my feet</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Rebecca Evert</div></body></html>