Something He Only Did Occasionally

There's grandpa with the kids on his knee.
For once he's not playing the boss,
There smiling, something he only did occasionally.

The photograph mirroring his emotion through the family tree,
But hanging unseen outside the frame was his albatross.
There's grandpa with the kids on his knee.

If it weren't for Hitler and his version of Manifest Destiny,
The paths of he and my mother weren't likely to cross.
There smiling, something he only did occasionally.

The kids on his knee sitting free.
They too are part of the paradox.
There's grandpa with the kids on his knee.

Photo albums are riddles to some degree.
If I look long enough, I see through the gloss,
There smiling, something he only did occasionally.

Something happened that kept him from the glee,
So he spent his life examining his loss.
There's grandpa with the kids on his knee,
There smiling, something he only did occasionally.