Re: Mark Jones

[Chris Brady <cdbrady@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Beloved comrades,

I know we feel the loss,
and it hits us like a setback,
but I also know you will all agree
we have gone further because he was with us.
He still is, in an appreciable way.

One part of my family would sit shivas,
the other would hold a wake.
Let ours be a Marxist memorial
infused with the joy of having had him as a comrade.
Even though we are spread apart,
on different continents,
that only makes us more of what we should be:
Internationalists.

To life!

I will now go the fridge where I have a bottle of vodka
stashed in the freezer next to a small, cut glass, stemmed vessel
dedicated to the express purpose of libation.  I will say his name:
Mark Jones.

I will think what he stood for.
And of our collective commitment to that cause.
A tune will go through my mind.
It has words, but I hear only the music.
"Arise, ye prisoners of starvation..."
It will catch in my throat.
The ice-cold vodka will help.
I wish I had zakuskis!
A little piece of smoked fish.

To Mark Jones.
To life.