In Memory of Bob Maholchic
Along the highway blossoms flower
while the sun, like a beneficent power,
shines on gardens, yards and fields,
promising someday fruitful yields.
There’re flowers printed on your dress
and on my tie, though I confess,
this sunny morning my mood clashes
with our surroundings. We bear the ashes
of an uncle we loved and respected
who sired, nurtured, and protected
a family when in his prime,
and in the winding course of time,
when first our aunt passed, then our father,
he cared the same way for our mother.
You could put upon his epitaph,
“He was slow to anger and quick to laugh”.
He was even-tempered but hated to lose,
he loved reading the paper and knowing the news.
A stalwart citizen of our nation,
one of its greatest generation,
he gave certainty in a world of doubt,
and he always paid when we ate out.
Now at this graveyard, we the living
recall his garden and him giving
food away that he had grown.
No one would have ever known
on his last day that he was ailing.
At ninety-four, his heart was failing.
So, by these graves this sun-splashed day
let’s bend down to the earth to say
goodbye to one with one last kiss,
whose sunny nature we will miss.
