Today would have been my Aunt
Jean's 73rd birthday. She and her mother, my Grandma MacEachern, were
both born on April 10. It would have been a lovely synchronicity if I had
waited a few hours longer to be born so all three of us could have had our
birthdays on the same day ... but I had to be my own person and stand
out from the crowd, I suppose.
Aunt Jean was a wonderful person: so full of life, love, and laughter. She died too soon of cancer in July 2011, just one year after the death of her husband, my Uncle John. (I wrote a longer post about it here.) Last year I wrote this poem in her honour, so I thought I would share it here today in tribute to her.
Aunt Jean was a wonderful person: so full of life, love, and laughter. She died too soon of cancer in July 2011, just one year after the death of her husband, my Uncle John. (I wrote a longer post about it here.) Last year I wrote this poem in her honour, so I thought I would share it here today in tribute to her.
recollection
aunt Jean’s funeral
procession
threads black along the straight
rural road
cresting one hill then
another
oncoming cars pull to the shoulder
a man and boy in a roadside hayfield
pause from work
remove their caps
sober country courtesies
we walk from our cars
to the grave
the beaming sun seems incongruous
incredulous maybe
that this laughing
life
could be
so
over
John what’s the name
of that stuff we’re taking for our memory
did she really say that
did she really try to buy half a watch strap at a flea
market
more to the point
can damp clods of earth shoveled
solemnly over this glossy box
subdue the lively
doting
sparkling spirit
she was
is
no wonder the sun shines in stubborn dis
belief
no wonder we
cry and laugh at once
no wonder we can’t name that stuff we take
for our memory
except
to call it
love
- Jeannie Prinsen 2012
Jean MacEachern Haslam, 1940-2011
Oh my word but that's lovely, Jeannie. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tim. My aunt was a lovely person. I miss her.
DeleteThis really hit home Jeannie, thank you so much. She was called away much too soon and Charlie and I miss her terribly. Rest in pieace Jean and John Haslam.
ReplyDeleteSigga MacEachern
Thanks, Sigga. So sad they were both gone so close together.
DeleteWhat a wonderful tribute to someone wonderfully deserving!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sarah. And you helped with this poem, too -- thanks for that as well. xo
Delete