Adapted original poem written for her 70th birthday
On May 25th 1950
Their second daughter
Was born, Chrissy
Christine Mildred
Her formal name
Derived from Mom’s Mom so
A grandmother’s heart
Blessed your start
In North Adams
On Freeman Ave
Bringing the nest to 5
For Vir and Art
Plus
Five more there?
But, that was before
My time
because you
were just shy of ten
When two more
Sisters filled
Our Spencer home
Now in Stamford
And it was there
That we grew
Up in your shadow
between the front
yard maples
And the tipped back
Chairs round
A table that
Somehow fed
Souls too
And
Remember side by side
We’d sit in the
Den, song after
Song we’d sing
Til we exhausted
Ourselves
Then maybe
We’d hear a
Spin of Joan Baez
Or Peter, Paul and Mary
Brings me to
Watching you
Twist and Shout
Or Wanna Hold Your Hand
From an electric
Guitar in the living room
Strummed by a very tall
Skinny bearded man
We watched you manage
Your teenage years
With 3 little sisters
Under toe
Listening to very
long phone calls
From boyfriends who
didn’t know
When to go
I coveted your beauty
Groovey style and
Long hair
And learned how to
Straighten it
Before irons
Were sold to curl
We had yours
on the board unfurled
I remember three
Big Hi-C cans
A hairdryer in
a case
So many things
A young girl
Has to know
And someone to
Put me in place
Be it too
Much Chocolate
Syrup, or Time in the tub
Or Down the stairs
I fell
The directions from
Big sisters
Last a lifetime
As collections
Of so many
great memories to tell
Like sledding on
The back hill
In the dark
After supper
And dishes were done
All the way to
The brook
Goal achieved
Feet wet
Anyway
Inside we’d head
Watch you brush
Your teeth
And then we all went to bed
From there to
Mornings in North Adams
On a high narrow street
An apartment your own
On to California not for long
Unsettled still
Came back then gone
To Florida and
There you stayed
Funny you ended
Up with a native from N.A.
And two beautiful little girls
Loving family made
And I know they are lucky
Because my big sister
Never shooed us away
And more often played
On and On
Stephen Bishop style
Cool and smooth
Or maybe on a summer breeze
Like Seals and Croft
My big sister Chris
never stopped holding
Her place
in so
Many Northern hearts
Where the beat began
But as years
Rolled by
And rolled by some more
You shined ever strong
Looking beautiful
And young
…Until 3 months ago
A cruel and fatal blow
Began to snuff you away from us
Quickly and so unjust
It’s not supposed to be
You had so much vigor left
So many more dreams to live
And we all wanted more love
To come down through you
As we held your hand
Cried tears into your hair
Or slept next to you in the chair
To my big sister’s side I came
Until you breathed your last breath
It was the least I could give
To my sister who showed me how to live
But even in death you gave us more
Because now we know
Your love still lives
On in our hearts
Where the beat of knowing you
And loving you
began
~ love always and forever
Judy
jazzyjeweljude 