In loving memory of Grandpa Ralph “Sammy Hart” Krenzer (1930-2022).

The years are strung with melodies,
The traveling gigs, the garage, the V,
When music’s on the Hart.
The sound obscures the creaking floors
As family flows through both the doors
When music’s on the Hart.

There’s a bus to drive and lures to drop
And stories to tell at his barber shop
When fishing season comes.
Sometimes the catch comes awful slow
But “You can’t catch them if you don’t go.”
When fishing season comes.

The cabbage rolls are on the stove
The twelve that call him Dad come home
When Christmas time is here.
He plays his songs at every chance,
The Roly Poly makes them dance
When Christmas time is here.

There’s no greater union under the sun
Than years in marriage seventy-one
With Betty by his side.
He takes the weekly wine and bread
And points to a Union greater yet
With Betty by his side.

Then came his hour to face the unknown
Yet not one step was walked alone
When Jesus called him home.
There are fish of a kind no man could invent
That he’d never catch unless he went
When Jesus called him home.

© Tanner Rinke 2022