It is Time Sleep Now Ode to Mona Jones Stan the Man Also see POEMS BY MONA

The Matriarch of the family passed away in Oct of 2005. She loved life, art, family, and friends. She influenced the lives of many people and will not be forgotten. She was affectionately know as Mona Jones.

Also see The life and times and poems of MONA

IT' IS TIME

For three score and eighteen years

Free - spirited

I have lived enriched

With earth's lovely wonders

Each day and every moment

- happy or sad -

were uniquely beautiful

in there own way

The time has come when my epoch will soon be finished

Signals from my aging heart

Demand my immediate attention

Now I listen to the message of its constant drumming

"Darkness is nearly here"

As my eyesight fades - and in that blindness -

All that I am,

And all that I love,

Will disappear!

Soon my spirit will choose a different path to travel,

Although shamelessly I will say:

"It is with a deepest sorrow

That I end my earthly Days"

Mona

____________________________________________________________

Sleep now

Sleep now and dream

Let me lay your head down upon the pillow

hold you hand in mine

and touch my fingers to your lips

Sleep now

Sleep now and dream

Let me help you loose the shackles

That has been borne too long

Yes . . . dreaming is a kind of death

(don't be afraid

there is more than one)

Dream now, dream now

and sleep

I shall see your face

In every flower

And hear your voice

in every breath I take

But it is time

Dream . . .

Dream of

youth

and love

and laughter

Dream now

and scale the walls of time

escaping beyond

Shall I see beauty

and not remember?

Dream . . . .

RJG

10-11-05

______________________________________________

Ode to Mona Jones

The redwood crashes through the chaparral

resting on the forest floor

I do not have to tell my children

For they all know

As does my brother, my sister

And all of their offspring's

A giant has fallen!

“Mona Jones – the sanity saver”

“Mona Jones – the fear slayer”

“Mona Jones – the humanity lover”

“Mona Jones – a vessel of compassion”

In the end, I was there on one side

And my sister on the other

Holding her, willing her to leave,

Begging her to go . . . wanting her to stay

And finally . . . she left . . . when she was ready

I was glad to see her go

Leaving that broken body

To fly off to . . . I don’t know where

It was like a vacuum

Sucking out her energy

And she was gone . . .

“Where is Mona Jones?”

Child of the earth?

I see a sparkle, if you can call it that,

In myself, as I always have.

I see a sparkle in my children

I see a sparkle in my children’s children….

In my sister, my brother and all of their children

She will rise

She will rise again

I know not which generation

But she will rise . . .

Michael Gulewich

10-21-2005

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Mona's Husband, Stanley Gulewich, passed when he was only 47. He helped establish Gamblers Anonymous in the Los Angeles area. He, also, was truly unique.

Stan the Man

Daddy was a gamblin’ man

He gambled all the time

Said it was his cancer

And drove him dead-end blind

He’d wager every penny

When that wasn’t quite enough

He’d wager our love, our dignity

and finally all our trust

He stole from me more that once

But money’s not what I lost

A childhood without a father

A father whose self-respect was tossed

He finally learned to change his ways

Hopin’ it was enough

Helpin’ others each and every day

through their dark gulf

He kept rolling those dice-of-the-damned

Every Day with Father Time

Just when he finally thought he was winin’

Damn . . . Those Ol’ Snake Eyes

RJG

Also see POEMS BY MONA