They have Recently Left us, But We Will Hold Them in Our Hearts Forever

A Sonnet for Jai

Your hair changed like the Aurora Borealis,
From brown to green to purple turned your strands,
You did not sip from convention's plaster chalice,
Your mark you laid in silver, not in sand.

You loved me as your child, I worshipped you,
I was your niece, you were my crazy aunt,
You taught me Bakers' rocks of black and sea of blue,
I gave you aspen leaves, and aspen trees became our haunt.

In autumn aspen leaves will fall and cloak the ground,
You and your children have left us deep in night,
But you gave me stars to wear around my neck--they'll never brown,
And I know that in your absence, you still know and watch me as I write.

Jai, you are loved even though you are gone,
I'll remember you each time I hear a lovely Green Day song.

--Katherine Walecka