EULOGY TO IMELDA ELLY
By Brian Elly ... To My Grandmother!

Let me count the ways ...

I love you Imelda Elly for the strength and courage you showed when your husband left you with four children to raise. And despite your humble means, you built a big family whose seeds are scattered all over the world from Papua New Guinea, Australia to Canada.

I love you Imelda Elly for the pain and suffering you went through for your children and your children's children.

I love you Imelda Elly for never walking away from your responsibilities even though on many occasions we all made your life so difficult for you.

I love you Imelda Elly for being a good referee when your sons needed you.

I love you Imelda Elly for making me pull out one hundred gray hairs from your head for each of the marbles you found in your beautiful garden at Hohola.

I love you Imelda Elly for punishing me and teaching me that it was wrong to beg from other wealthier members of our family.

I love you Imelda Elly for loading my arms up with the beautiful vegetables from you garden, and kicking me out the door to go and sell them to our neighbors so that I could earn the one shilling (ten cents) I needed to pay for my school fees each week, when I was only five years old.

I love you Imelda Elly for embracing me with your arms and showering me with your tender loving care when I wasn't good enough for my mother.

Most of all, I love you Imelda Elly for forgiving me before you passed away for turning my back on you when I knew in my heart how much you needed my love and my help.

How do I love thee?

For every drop of water in the oceans of the world ...

For every grain of sand on every beach and on every desert ...

And for every star that has blazed in the night skies since the dawn of time ...

That my dearest Imelda is how much I will always love you.

Goodbye my dearest proud humble Imelda and mother, and may you forever be happy in your new garden in the sky.

© 16th. Feb. 1993 by Brian Elly
www.wepinet.com is dedicated to Imelda Elly