My Great-Grandfather’s Mince Meat Pie.

My Great-Grandfather’s Mince Meat Pie

I make mince meat pie from scratch from a recipe

My great-grandfather had brought all the way from

Turnpike, New Jersey, back when he was a wee child

And had bought the recipe for forty cents from a

Bake sale.  His mother was so proud.  Every day

After school, he would practice making the pie

With his little pan, and with the help of his grandmother,

He would put in the right ingredients and cook it

Exactly the right way and it would come out, nice

And sizzling, from the stove. 

They had older stoves back in the day,

Not the new ones they have now,

With their digital timers and self-cleaning ovens,

No, he had to clean his grandmother’s stove himself,

By hand, with soap and water.  But the hard work

And wait would be worth it, because every week,

After trying hard to get the recipe to come out right,

He would eagerly come home from school on Friday

Afternoons and sit down at the table, his legs swinging

Over the edge of the seat, waiting in anticipation for

The great piece of food to enter his cute little mouth.