Morning Dawns Sounding Like Spring: Ode To The Precursors*
Lisa Danielle Gallant and Ruth Bradspies. 1974
Morning dawns sounding like spring,
the light comes early,
the birds sing their song of hope despite the temperature of 1 degree
And in my email,
a gift from my mother
who would have turned 77 this month, but instead died nearly 29 years ago and never fails me when I need her
Her cousin, her beautiful cousin who looks like her so much it steals my breath to look at her,
writes to remind me of my strength
reaches back through time
and reminds me of my heritage,
conjures my relatives by name
Molly, Herbie, Ruthie, Lizzy, Robert
This cousin reminds me that love conquers all, that language carries love through time shining on us when we are ready,
that my Great Grandma Molly, working in a bra factory all day only to return home to a drunken husband, no food or rent,
did not suffer in vain.
Trust the universe, she writes, pour love into your spirit soothing poems,
understand the compelling power of real authenticity put out into this world,
I listen with an open heart and I hear.
Molly, Herbie, Ruthie, Lizzy, Robert, Sarabelle, I embrace this gift and I thank you.
Lisa Danielle Gallant
___________________
* The title is mine as it had no title…Perhaps better that way? Lisa Gallant is my cousin Elizabeth’s daughter on my father’s side.
She writes poetry – like her great Uncle Herbie and her cousin Sarabelle, she has a fine appreciation of language and uses it well.
There is history in this poem that I had forgotten – that my grandmother Molly Prensky had worked in a bra factory in the Bronx. There is reference to my grandfather Abraham Prensky. He had worked his way up from a construction worker to become a successful contractor, only to get caught up in the crash of 1929 that ruined him and the family financially. My understanding is he always drank some, but after the crash his life collapsed and he became an alcoholic, abusive to his wife. He also contracted tuberculosis and spent some time in a Denver sanitorium. I have tried to track down which one but to date have been unsuccessful. In his later life Abraham dried out and the Prensky couple had a few peaceful years..He died of the tuberculosis in 1948, she in 1971.
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