Sappy Silje

Silje kept a Swedish flag inside her pocket
She lost her paratrooper charm and locket
and decided to take a walk down memory’s lanes
where her favorite brownstone had become a school,
her first bar was now a Laundromat – the place
where she had learned about drinking to be cool.

She remembered the time from a trip long ago
driving too fast down the Pacific Coast Highway,
her mother taking hold of her hands gasping
as she must have said at least three Hail Mary’s.

Silje had loved to listen to songs and guitar,
Neil Young feeling Helpless, Janice howling
A "piece of my heart" and cry cry baby blues,
Melanie with her songs of peace by the fire.
A photo of her father near the big geyser.

She dreaded each St. Patrick’s Day:
“If you’re sad it’s the Nordic way”
“If you’re sensitive it’s the Irish in you”
This is what she had been told --
Dramatics sort of being part of her mold.
all the while trying to keep a stiff upper lip
as her Grandma insisted to be as a Britisher.