Tannie Yvonne DuPlessis

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- Thank you Shantaram for showing me
that I can forgive unconditionally -

Tannie Yvonne asked me what’s wrong
grandma Alice is going blind I replied

Let’s play at being Robin Hood she advised
surgery for cataracts, take the deposit

To pay the costs, I collected to add to the sum,
grandma’s eye was operated on, hubby paid

The rest of the bill - grandma Alice never had a
medical fund, she put all she had into us kids

To help us live a life refined - I am delighted by
Tannie Yvonne’s gallant gesture to take care

Of someone I loved and did not honour in my youth
when there was war in our house and nobody knew

That grandma was serving penance for crimes she had
done when she stole to serve her son when he was young

Grandma loved too much, served in silence, except
to confess to my brother Ian, blighting his youth

Yet the lives of everyone were affected by the war in
our house, the secret of grandma’s indictment

No-one untouched, no-one unscathed…today I pay tribute
to grandma Alice who died unsung, the least I can do

Is let the people know, grandma is my heroine!

(I learnt the facts of my childhood within the last nine
years, the mystery of the war in which we grew up
unfolding slowly - following Shantaram’s example,
I absolve everybody involved in exploiting grandma,
accepting responsibility for the fact I never showed
grandma the love and care she deserved, but the
memory of her sacrifices will always be honoured
in my heart, she paid the price for dishonouring
the family name by giving her life)

Gregory David Roberts “Shantaram” Abacus 2004
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