My Grandmother, the Poet

November 17, 2011

Late last night, everyone in the Jung family received an email from our Uncle Corky – along with an image attachment. Here’s his message:

Grandma and I were sitting in the airplane on-route to Cabo. She looked out the window and inspiration came to her. She asked for pen and paper and wrote this poem in a matter of minutes. She asked me to translate it so all the kids can read it. I can tell you it took me longer than it did her. All I can do was to scan the original. Somehow it ended up in this format. But you can see it. My translation follows.

On Board Aeroplane

Cumulus clouds a boundless sea
heavenly vault azure come to meet
creation enorm man small
divine miracles manifestly seen

In looking back to when I grew up, one of my biggest regrets is not trying harder to learn Mandarin. My parents gave me a lot of opportunities to do so and even signed me up for classes… but I never really tried all that much.

This was an email sent out to family members, but I loved it so much… I wanted to share it with everyone else. It’s great to see my grandmother’s faculties are still as keen as ever, regardless of language.

grandma phoebe poem

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