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  1. TopTop #1
    Barry's Avatar
    Barry
    Founder & Moderator

    Remembering Jerry on his 70th

    An Elegy for Jerry by Robert Hunter
    https://dead.net/features/days-between-celebrating-jerrys-70th-birthday

    Jerry, my friend,
    you’ve done it again,
    even in your silence
    the familiar pressure
    comes to bear, demanding
    I pull words 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 grace
    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 your muse who thought to rest
    out of the thin blue air,
    that out of the field of shared 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 feather 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 legends of the dead.

    If some part of that 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
    become the King of Hearts

    I feel your silent laughter
    as 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.
    | Login or Register (free) to reply publicly or privately   Email

  2. Gratitude expressed by:

  3. TopTop #2
    Barry's Avatar
    Barry
    Founder & Moderator

    Re: Remembering Jerry on his 70th

    Jerry's Gone
    by Ram Das - 1995


    Jerry's dead

    An era has ended
    And here we are...still.
    All these years,
    The Dead concerts have been spirit

    Made manifest,
    Deep connections into...

    Living Vibrant Love

    Now
    The high priest has split.

    The Tao Te Ching speaks of the best leader as one who leaves
    The people thinking they did it all themselves.
    Jerry was that kind of a leader.
    He turned the power back to the people.
    He, and the band...they have never really bought into
    ****SUPERSTARDOM****
    They have seen themselves more as catalysts
    In the magical mix of the moment
    That allowed each person at the gathering to feel safe enough to
    Become self-luminous.
    So now Jerry has dropped his body...
    And here we are... still.
    Through him and his mythic playmates came the sound that
    Connected us to our deeper selves...
    This was our spiritual practice... our doorway...
    Genuinely ours... and it worked...
    Now Jerry isn't
    And we are...still.
    So... has all that free form ecstasy
    That we garnered from an otherwise shadow world
    Transformed us? Or made us more free?
    Or
    Has it just left us a group of
    Sad Grateful Dead addicts
    In withdrawal?
    For sure we will grieve the monumental loss of our friend...Jerry
    For a long...long...long...time.
    Most likely we will go through some powerful depression
    And despair...
    We may even court cynicism...
    After all...it's not easy to lose your connection.
    But Jerry's legacy to us is more profound than all of that.
    He is in us...
    Just as we have been in him.
    We have all been not a tribe... or a family,
    But a bubble of awareness
    Riding upon the ocean of sound
    That is in and beyond the sounds we ear hear.

    Now it's up to us to co-create other safe spaces
    Where we can listen to hear what Jerry heard
    And to allow our love-light to Shine.
    Jerry is gone in one form,
    But...like the magician that he is,
    He has explosively been transformed into
    A million Jerrys...
    One...improvising in each of our hearts.
    Jerry...We express our gratefulness...
    By becoming the memory of you.

    -Ram Dass

    This passage is an excerpt from GARCIA - A Grateful Celebration, originally published in 1995 byDupree's Diamond News. To learn more about Dupree's Diamond News or how to obtain a copy of GARCIA - A Grateful Celebration, click here.


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  4. TopTop #3
    mamaj's Avatar
    mamaj
     

    Re: Remembering Jerry on his 70th

    This is very heartfelt ,miss you Jerry. I met him when I was just 14 and he was....25? He also played at high school dances at Analy High school in Sebastopol. He also helped in putting together a song about my niece Cassidy, called Cassidy. Thankyou for your music Jerry,thankyou for your song. Always in our thoughts and hearts.

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by Barry: View Post
    An Elegy for Jerry by Robert Hunter
    https://dead.net/features/days-between-celebrating-jerrys-70th-birthday

    Jerry, my friend,
    you’ve done it again,
    even in your silence
    the familiar pressure
    comes to bear, demanding
    I pull words 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 grace
    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 your muse who thought to rest
    out of the thin blue air,
    that out of the field of shared 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 feather 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 legends of the dead.

    If some part of that 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
    become the King of Hearts

    I feel your silent laughter
    as 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.
    | Login or Register (free) to reply publicly or privately   Email

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