Your funeral was a large affair
Family – extended across the states –
Assembled in remembrance and prayer
A catholic mass for the dead
A sombre thread that wove its way
Across the pews and treads.
And two spotlight moments
One ecstatic, once comical
When the gears of living were simply reset.
Your requested music risked the firmament
Dvorak, Russalka - out of time and place
Summoned forth a deep fulfilment.
Who really knew your secret world
Your battered soul, your stolen childhood
And war’s psychic wounds
Threading across a spartan room:
The trails of lost sleep
Became a hymn to that silver moon.
Afterwards, like a stubborn donkey
The brand new hearse
Would not ignite your way.
A settled burden hence
Tight with your frail body:
It seemed to mock our reverence.
Laughter salted its tears across this cache
And seasoned your mischievous face
Smiling at last with wicked peace:
Lachen und Weinen
May 2021
Gar Jones
Family – extended across the states –
Assembled in remembrance and prayer
A catholic mass for the dead
A sombre thread that wove its way
Across the pews and treads.
And two spotlight moments
One ecstatic, once comical
When the gears of living were simply reset.
Your requested music risked the firmament
Dvorak, Russalka - out of time and place
Summoned forth a deep fulfilment.
Who really knew your secret world
Your battered soul, your stolen childhood
And war’s psychic wounds
Threading across a spartan room:
The trails of lost sleep
Became a hymn to that silver moon.
Afterwards, like a stubborn donkey
The brand new hearse
Would not ignite your way.
A settled burden hence
Tight with your frail body:
It seemed to mock our reverence.
Laughter salted its tears across this cache
And seasoned your mischievous face
Smiling at last with wicked peace:
Lachen und Weinen
May 2021
Gar Jones