like pictures

“Kinder wie die Bilder”
Children like pictures

my Oma Niebuhr said this often
in her home on Notre Dame
as we tumbled on her floor or argued at her kitchen table
game pieces precisely placed

usually in winter
with mesmerizing flakes
coming down
covering roads and sidewalks
making shoes and tires slip and skid

never knew what she meant
compliment
or reprimand?

She loved pictures though
made us take them at every gathering
and she was usually front and center

the pictures give a portrait of a strong woman
she’d lost…
-------husband
-------------home
-----------------children
endured
-------war
-------------famine
------------------migration
-------------------------poverty

but she delighted our presence
giving us stale chocolate
taking mental pictures
of fleeting happy times
like melting snow on a Sunday afternoon