AN ELEGY FOR JERRY---By Robert Hunter

Jerry, my friend.

You've done it again,

even in your silence

the familiar pressure

comes to bear, demanding

I pull word from the air

with only this morning

and part of the afternoon

to compose an ode worthy

of one so particular

about every turn of phrase,

demanding it hit home

in a thousand ways

before making it his own,

and this I can't do alone.

Now that the singer is gone,

where shall I go for the song?

Without your melody and taste

to lend an attitude of grage

a lyric is an orphan thing,

a hive with neither honey's taste

nor power to truly sting.

What choice have I but to dare and

call you muse who thought to rest

out of the thin blue air

that out of the field of shard time,

a line or two might chance to shine---

As ever when we called,

in hope if not in words,

the muse descends.

How should she desert us, now?

Scars of battle on her brow,

bedraggled feathers on her wings,

and yet she sings, she sings!

May she bear thee to thy rest,

the ancient bower of flowers

beyond the solitude of days,

the tyranny of hours---

the wreath of shining laurel lie

upon your shaggy head

bestowing power to play the lyre

to legions of the dead.

If some part of tha music

is heard in deepest dream,

or on some breeze of Summer

a snatch of golden theme,

we'll know you live inside us

with love that never parts

our good old Jack O'Diamonds

became the King of Hearts.

I feel your silent laughter

at sentiments so bold

that dare to step across the line

to tell what must be told,

so I'll just say I love you,

which I never said before

and let it go at that old friend

the rest you may ignore.

Jerry was only 53 when he departed this world, but he packed more living in those few years than most achieve in 100. He was optimistic about humanity's future and believed in a univeral drive toward consciousness. He taught us, as his children, that life's goal was to bring "the big mind and the little mind" closer. Jerry and his love of music helped us to do just that. Jerry believed that music could always make the difficult times easier and through his love and music, Jerry brought us alot of up beat positive energy. He touched many lives during his 53 years of live and 30 years with the dead.

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