That Very Brave Old Dear

Scarce a day goes by that some character I do not meet Like the toothless old dear who lives on Park Street With shoulder length gray hair free of conceit and guile She always does greet me with a broad gummy smile Her husband he passed on a few years ago Of terminal cancer his end painful and slow Fifty years ago their only child a teenager swimming in the sea died Her body discovered on a beach washed in by the tide Life burdens some people with a heavy cross And for herself and her husband a heartbreaking loss Their beautiful daughter from them forever gone But through heartbreak and sorrow they somehow lived on And I meet her quite often though not every day That very brave old dear the years have left gray.