AN ODE TO MY BROTHER JAIRUS



Honoring my Brother Jerry, for His Seventieth Birthday:

Parents keep you safe in a crib
In Jerry climbed--just a year older
--He taught me everything he knew
and freed me from its bars.

Parents teach you to walk
Jerry taught me to run free
Together we climbed trees,
Explored the woods
Discovered walking sticks,
grasshoppers, oak galls.

Parents wash you clean
Jerry had us barefoot in mud,
jumping the icy brook,
vaulting with beanpoles.
Damming the brook,
Flooding the field.
Floating rafts; skipping stones...
Flying kites; digging in sandbank
across from our house.

"I dug a hole to the North Pole, he said.
"Shake hands with Santa Claus."
I reached in one end--
And he the other.
Sure enough, I shook hands with "Santa."
But I caught on to his cleverness...
Learning there are no short cuts to Christmas.

Our curiosity gave birth to wonder--
A wonder we held forever:
Like discovering a hibernating toad
When digging into the hill in spring.

Another Spring, on the way home from school
Jerry discovered some motherless baby squirrels
On a tree near our house.
Mom let us take them in;
Calling the Science Museum for instructions.
"Soak bread in milk," they said.
Mom hated slurping sounds.
Jerry and I looked at each other
trying not to laugh at Mom
Having to put up with the slurping squirrels.

Rain meant "Water Works"
and we'd play in the puddles
sailing balsa boats...
...All kinds of weather were excuses for fun.

Rain. Sunshine. Sleet. Snow.
...Patter on an umbrella.
...A walk in the sun across Tomato Field to Hall's spring.
"Stoop down so Old Lady Hall doesn't see us."

Snow meant sliding down Tomato Hill
To the base of Potato Hill...
Up we'd climb Potato Hill,
and slide back...
..."Careful not to miss the bridge below...
and end up in the brook."

We loved the wind... (and still do).
We would climb high to the top
and ride the sway of the trees.
...Jerry took it a step further:
"Look, Jo--Hold on to the top
And JUMP OUT!"

I watched as he bobbed gently to the ground.
I tried it too... What a ride!
Then he tried a young oak.
Jumped out and "CRACK!" (The top broke)
He went sailing down with a thud
The top of the tree still in his hands.

We rode birch tree horses
And had Cowboy hats,
And we each had twin holsters
With cap guns we could twirl on our fingers,
and shoot as fast as our hero, Roy Rogers

We raised ducks together;
and mice we saved from cats;
and took our companion dogs;
for a walk or a run through the fields,
or hide in the tall grass to see if our
collie, Jeanie, could find us... She always did.

To keep us warm in winter
if we were lucky we could get
the cats to climb under the covers
and sleep warming our feet.

The bedrooms were without radiators
And we'd run down to the kitchen
In our PJs in the morning and
Dress by the old wrought iron stove.

Winter was fun on ice
And we learned to skate
on double runged skates
Carefully on the low field
at the edge of the brook
often crashing through tiddly ice,
To the muddy field below,
and have to go home to
change into something dry.

Later years, on real skates
We skated on ponds in the pines
Or the sand pits.
"Jerry! Watch me do a figure eight"
And I'd try. He'd be more
interested in hitting a puck
with a hockey stick.

Our town was a smelly one:
The South wind smelled of the Tanneries
The North wind,
Of the Chemical Works
Of the piggeries
if from the East.
The West Wind was
the only sweet wind.

There were sand pits in Woburn
Where they'd dig out sand
for cement for construction
as well as sand for sand boxes
Beautiful yellow sand everywhere,
Just 6 inches below the top soil.

We knew how to be careful
When playing there:
Mom warned us about cave ins.
We learned about the sand pits so well...
We could run and jump without looking.
"...Geronimo!"
and fall many feet into soft sand...
...except one day when they dug it out
leaving a cliff of clay just where my
back hit the bank... and knocked
the wind out of me.

I was sure I was dying... unable to
breathe... even Jerry was worried.
Then Finally, a croaky breath inward,
"Ohhhhhhh!"
I learned my lesson in life:
"Look before you leap."

Even littered beer cans were fun,
Squashed on our foot sideways;
What a beautiful racket!
"CLOMP...CLOMP...CLOMP"
Noiser on Merrimac Street.
We sounded like shod horses.
Noise and laughter...
Who could stomp the loudest!

Hide-n-go-seek
Find a good place
They can't find me
"Olley-Olley in Free!
And often I won...
unless Jerry was it, as...
He taught me all the best places.

Billy, Shelia, and Donny McHugh
Ronnie Hatfield, and Richy Butler too...
"Friends of our childhood.
Come out to play
Whether 7 or 70
Our childhood's never far away!"
~~~~





"HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the brother.
Who taught me to wonder
and how to live a wonderful life.

"Thank You for my Sunshine Years
You made my childhood a sunny life,
...A time I carry with me always
Just a memory away."

I love you,
Mary Jo

[Reading this at his surprise party at the new Assembly of God church in Vestal, I even strapped on some squashed beer cans to emphasize that part of the ode. The modern ones don't stick to the shoes like the old tin beer cans that had to be opened with a 'church key'. It wasn't quite a poem, but a tribute to him for giving his sister such a happy foundation in life. This group was the most down to earth, and fun loving group, most of them being members of that Church. It proved to me that Christianity can be fun. Maybe that group is a happy one because of my brother, who has forever been himself, brought a spontaneity and childlike enthusiasm to every group with which he's become a member, and everyone with whom he's become a friend. As a gift to him, others wrote poems, prose, and even sang a song one wrote dedicated to him called "Jerry", showing he has brought them happiness and has influenced their lives. It made me realize what a great guy he really is, and how God can use a Peter Pan personality to bring people closer to Him, proving that God wants life to be filled with humor as well as love.]


Jerry wearing one of the funny gifts he received.