You gave me your blood and soul
You took my father’s role
Always behind me
Even guiding me
When you were old

Your childhood, an idyllic time
Bilingual your mind
Then sent to Norway
To hold the frontier
Of the so-called “Third Reich”.

Once you and grandma told me
That you’re gonna wait for me
I’ll meet you on the other side of the stream

Kicked out of paradise
Back in 1945
Your family displaced
Suppressed and expelled
From the Sudeten German enclave

Refugees that’s what you are
Longing for something that lasts
Homeless orphans
Searching for new land
Trying to overcome their past

Once you and grandma told me
That you’re gonna wait for me
I’ll meet you on the other side of the stream

Blindness has broken your spirit
You had to loosen your grip
Infirmity gaining
Energy waning
While someone else’s coin flips

Once I told you how 
Grateful I am now
You asked me “What for?”
I said “Just because
Of your never-ending support”

Now you’re prepared to die
I see it mirrored in your eyes
Two more years till
Your hundredth birthday
Is not what you aspire

Then you’ll be again (my grandpa)
A refugee in a new land (my grandpa)
I will follow
Just when I am as old
As you finally became

Once you and grandma told me
That you’re gonna wait for me
I’ll meet you on the other side of the stream