Time With Gramp

Gramp, will you help me with my math?
My dad is busy now.
He doesn't know Pythagoras
Or Euclid, anyhow.

The theorems in geometry
Are hard to understand,
But I think I could master them
If you give me a hand.

I've got to read some Whitman
For my class in poetry.
I thought you might be able
To go over that with me.

Old Uncle Walt just leaves me struggling
With his "Leaves of Grass".
I've got to understand that poem
If I am going to pass.

Now, what do you remember,
Back in nineteen sixty-five,
When you were in South Viet Nam,
Just trying to stay alive?

My history class is studying
The wars that we have fought.
I know you're in that wheelchair
From the time that you were shot.

If you don't want to talk about
Those times from years gone by,
I'll understand, and I can see
A teardrop in your eye.

I'm sorry, Gramp, I mentioned it.
I know what we can do.
Tell me about when you met Gram
In nineteen sixty-two.