Madison Class

Green Bay picnic '21

Here is a poem in honor of one of our sisters who has passed on. She was a loving wife, mother and friend and she will forever be missed- especially in the Madison class where she first learned about Yahweh and found her true love: the gospel.

This poem was written by her daughter Tanya

“ today (September 22) marks 19 years since the passing of my mother, Elena (Helen) Rakhmilevich. Thinking of her laugh today. “

the Great Rememberer

for my mother, Elena

I am the Great Rememberer
my soul is to remember
I feel the summer glow give way
the entrance of September

the melancholy butterflies
dry up and fade away
I see them live and die each year
arriving every May

I watch the cities rise and fall
on strength of stone and math
I watch the wind extinguish
every memory to the last

the labyrinth and atmosphere
suddenly so cold
I wish I brought my sweater here
some warmth may have consoled

and when the leaves begin to rot
I close my eyes and cough
the windy swirls, the fever chills
the ground no longer soft

please don't dig away my dirt
with your cosmic shovel
I need to mourn the dead awhile
here in my autumn hovel

in here we braid our loaves of dough
and dance in laughing swirls
in here you teach me ribbon songs
in here, a softer world

but when the end of autumn comes
and they ask me where you are
I either point them to the leaves
or to the nearest star

I am the Great Rememberer
my soul is to remember
I am the daughter of lost time
dreaming of September.