Dankeschön – Thank You; English #frapalymo

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.

—Nortina

So, I wasn’t able to participate in National Poetry Month in April because I was too busy with the A to Z Challenge, which you can read here. And although I did my own version of NaPoWriMo earlier this year, I’ve decided, for the month of May, to join Germany’s version, Frau Paulchen’s Lyrik Monat, which translates to Mrs Paulchens Poetry Month.

Today’s prompt is “everything goes better with music.”