FOR MY UNCLE ALBERT
By Jimmy Gauntt
March 2000
Way up there, up high in the sky
Al glided by and smiled.
He soared so high, yet fell so low
But he was always there for me.
He had no girls, or little boys,
But a dog named Syd instead.
He love that dog, like a son,
And took him everywhere.
He smiled a grin so wide,
Yet he also sang the blues.
He took me on journeys
Of make-believe…
But the war, and the pain
Never left his soul.
Albert loved to tinker, loved to toy,
Inventing wondrous things.
But he had a nasty friend
Who’d never let him leave.
It tried to run his life, and ruin it too,
It also made him sick.
He tried to fight, this inner demon,
I don’t think that he lost.
He smiled a grin so wide,
Yet he also sang the blues.
He took me on journeys
Of make-believe…
But the war, and the pain
Never left his soul.
Albert shared his soul, and his life,
With my aunt Ainsley.
Although he loved her, with all his heart,
Sometimes they grew apart.
She meant everything to him
And he was always there for her.
They’d love and they’d frustrate
Each other ‘til death.
Although Albert is gone, the emotions
Will never leave her soul.
Al was loyal, cared for all
Especially for his mom.
When she died, he never forgot,
To fulfill her last request.
He walked along, The Golden Gate,
Avoiding all the cops.
He released the tether, and set her free,
Just as she had wished.
And here I run, along the bridge,
Doing as he asked.
I released his soul, and let him soar,
Gliding to his mom.
Look through there, in the mist,
Albert is floating by.
Up and down, with the wind,
Riding the currents of life.
He smiled a grin so wide,
Yet he also sang the blues.
He took me on journeys
Of make-believe…
But the war, and the pain
Never left his soul.
Long ago, up high in the sky,
A man flew by and smiled
He rose so high, and fell so low,
But Albert is happy now.
Background: Richard Albert Nies was Jimmy’s uncle. He was married to Jimmy’s mom’s older sister, Ainsley. Uncle Al left this plane on February 29, 2000 of complications from alcoholism and diabetes. He was a young 54. His niece, Brittany, Jimmy’s sister, shares this same transition date with her Uncle-she entered this world twenty years earlier. This truly was a Leap for both of them.
There was a gathering of friends and family at Al’s mother’s home in Oakland. Jimmy felt very strongly about being there and delivering his poem in person to Ainsley. This is one of his first poems. Jimmy was 16 and a sophomore in high school.
Al was a helicopter pilot and served with the 101st Airborne in the Vietnam War. He was a brilliant high-tech gadget inventor-engineer-entrepreneur, with degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from San Francisco State University. Al had a passion for the air and enjoyed flying small planes, soaring, hang-gliding and para-kiting. For over 30 years he built and flew model RC gliders.
Syd was his stuffed dog with which Al entertained Brittany and Jimmy from when they were babies. Syd even had his own Santa Claus suit. Syd went everywhere with Al and Ainsley. They had no children together. Syd didn’t talk or bark, but he was very animated-thanks to Al.
Al was a very passionate blues guitar player.
He was a complicated and tormented fellow with a big kind heart and a good soul.
His mother, Laura Ann Back, passed away two years before Al in 1998.
Ainsley sent Jimmy’s parents a copy of the poem in March 2010. The poem was typed and Jimmy hand wrote this on the first page: I wrote this for my English class, and it meant a lot to me. I hope that it means a lot to you, too. Love Jimmy.
Ainsley included this note along with Jimmy’s poem.
Jimmy handed me a blue envelope with this poem in it at Al’s ‘celebration of life’ (a strange term since Al lived full-out every day he was alive- I know he didn’t miss that event either). I’d been welcoming people for some time that had no idea what to say to me, and I was disconnected to the point of watching myself reply the them rather than interact.
Jimmy has always been special in my life and it meant so much to me that he came. There was something about the look on his face when he told me he’d written a poem about Al, both concern and full of hope, that prompted me to get away by myself right then to read it.
Jimmy captured the essence of Al, which was truly amazing given the relatively short amount of time they spent together. Having Jimmy’s poem has been a gift to me ever since. I believe they shared the enviable ability to truly live in the moment and are still ‘riding the currents of life.” Love Ainsley
Al and Ainsley Nies
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