The most handsome man on earth

Useful children’s toys
2016

translated by Danae Sioziou

If my grandfather hadn't been the most handsome man on earth
I wouldn't have fallen in love with him at first sight
and if I hadn't fallen in love with him maybe things would have turned out all right.
If my grandfather didn't believe that I share his gaze on life
as he proudly declared the day of my birth
I may had not inherited his eyes and strong heart
his taste in women and hats
and he may had not postponed his death for five years
and if I was a boy maybe he would made me solve mathematical problems as well
instead of teaching me good manners, how to climb and why we should love the piano
and if he knew I understood
he would have never told me all those bitter, bitter stories
he thought anyway I would forget
if my grandpa hadn't been that beautiful and brave one
with the strong arms and legs that climbs up and down the earth till his last breath
maybe he would grow a mustache as well
maybe he would get double-married, have more children
we would be lost in space for good
if he had a harsh heart and soft hands so to say the other way around
maybe he wouldn't have let me jump on the hospital bed, rub his belly
maybe he wouldn't have fear of surgery
and we would have lived happily ever after
if my grandpa hadn't been one of those
who crossed the borders
our graves now ravaged elsewhere
if my grandpa didn't dance, didn't make whipped cream with strawberry syrup for dessert
skimped the amusement park or the bike, the cartoon's tv episode
he wouldn't have been my first love and my first death
he wouldn't have been the most handsome man on earth
and I would stand a chance
somehow, somewhat, sometime, someone to find
who could stand the comparison.

 

      Useful children’s toys, Antipodes editions, 2016

 

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