The Perspicacious Aster (For Esther Jedynak 1932 – 2021)
By Patrick Jamieson, Victoria
Volume 35 Issue 1, 2 & 3 | Posted: April 4, 2021
(Your funeral today, in your beloved temple, No Father John.
Tony your mentor died twenty seven years ago now. Night noise
Last night. Invited to be one of the ten or twelve to attend.)
You came along, so often, to play such a key role in so many lives:
Sensitive to the Signs of the Times, Sensitive to the spirit of eternity.
To me you seemed a reverie from eternity. An Eternal Woman.
Still point within yourself. Testament to these times of the long search.
So tolerant, up to a point. Called a spade a spade, not a heart.
Few diamonds did we share, of the material kind, in our inhabited clubs.
(2)
You were meant to be the salt of the earth, the yeast of the loaf.
Then onto the next situation of life, the next loving disciples.
No place to lay your head, then dust wiped from your feet.
Never, really, counting the cost. Hovering around bright lights
Only for a while. See your truth, speak it then lightly move along.
Leaving family behind, mother most, but father and brother and kin.
Who are your brothers and sisters when you strike off on this path?
(3)
I was one and glad for it. It was a beautiful era we worked upon
Built up from the Four Pillars as your Father Terry used to say:
Community, liturgy, solidarity and Search
And the end of all their seeking shall be to return
To the place where they began and see it for the first time.
Fare thee well gracious little flower. An aster for the ages.
(4-3-21 Victoria)
By Patrick Jamieson, Victoria