Dankeschön.
That’s the only German I know.
Dankeschön.
Grandpa used to say it all the time.
I don’t know where he learned German.
He fought in Korea—
or was it ‘Nam?
Well, he didn’t actually fight—
he cooked for the troops,
but maybe there were a few
West German soldiers in the battalion
who said Dankeschön as he ladled the
goulash into their bowls.
Dankeschön, duspreka.
I don’t know what duspreka means.
Grandpa thinks he’s saying Thank you, miss.
But I don’t have a German to English dictionary
to fact check him, only Google Translate.
For all I know, this whole time, he’s been speaking
four-letter words or gibberish.
And why is any of this important?
Well, I imagine violins playing softly in the background
as I recount some of my fondest memories of my Grandpa.
But don’t shed a mournful tear for me.
He’s still alive—
just a silly old man
who speaks gibberish in German.
© 2015 Nortina Simmons
Written for Frau Paulchen’s Lyrik Monat, which translates from German to Mrs. Paulchen’s Poetry Month. Today’s prompt is “everything goes better with music.”
Nortina's Writing Inspiration Well 
Hi Nortina, you are very welcome and what a lovely poem. Duspreka sounds rather Russian than German. “Miss” would be “Fraeulein” :-). My keyboard unfortunately doesn’t do the a’s with the dots on top :-). Send greetings to your granddad from me. He reminds me of mine but he passed away 20 years ago. Can’t believe it is that long. Take good care of yourself 🙂
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Now that you mention it, duspreka does sound Russian. I’ll let my granddad know he got his German wrong! Lol. Also, I’m glad my poem could bring back happy memories of your grandad. If he was anything like mine, he was freaking awesome. 😀
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oh, please do not let him know about that. It’s so sweet what he does :-). Don’t destroy his memories :-). Yes, my granddad was awesome very funny and charming. Drove my grandma mad with his jokes and made us kids laugh all the time. Thanks for taking part in #frapalymo 🙂
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