Passing Posy

Our great Aunt died yesterday. She was 93. We only knew her briefly but in that time came to love her and will miss her a great deal. Here is a poem she published last summer in the newsletter for Aquidneck Place:

"John
by Posy Hall

John was a boy in my first grade.
At times, he was the plague.

So were the others...
But one discovers
There are certain flatteries
In being singled out by these.

But, somehow I can never think why
It was as a young soldier
John had to die.

Years later we were all in a chemistry lab
John did a "take-off" of me
dissecting a creb.

He imitated postures,
My attitude and faith,
The ways I tried cutting,
The grimaces on my face,
And the different cuts that I tried,
John had us laugh till we cried.

But, I can not tell as I might try
Why John had to die.

Years later, in an accident
When I got hurt
John was so gentle
Rubbing off blood and dirt.
He even made a bandage out of his shirt.

Graduation came, and then - an alert.
Though we had never had a proper date
With a hand on my shoulder
Came the one question, "Wait?"

Though wait I did
I can't know why
John, as a young soldier, had to die."

And one more:

"To Jenny, Twenty Years
by Posy Hall

Dear Jenny, it's a long time since you
were called away.
Perhaps to play on the Milky Way,
Leaping easily from star to star.
I long to know where you are.

Dear Jenny, it would be so sweet
To feel once more the weight of you
on my feet
Or to suppose the feel on my hand
The touch of your cold wet nose.

To my beloved Border Collie, Jenny"

Rest in Peace, Aunt Posy
Your bumblebee/butterfly
QD.