Gray Eggs And Ham Br (In Memory Of Tommy) Poem by Mary Havran

Oh I did mean gray!
That’s what I meant to say.
Because for many years on the Saturday
Preceding Easter Sunday we used to play
at coloring hardboiled eggs to display next day

There were seven of us there
Five handsome boys two girls with long hair
We selected each egg handling it with care
Then marked them with wax so to prepare
For dipping into the color dyes gathered there

We all had favorites, (mine was blue)
Some liked red, green or yellow hue
We often mixed them for effect too
But none quite the way brother Tom would do

Tom always tried to make a unique one
Often he kept at it after his siblings were done
(We having moved on looking for other fun)
Tom kept working as though there were a prize to be won

While the rest of us had colored quite a few
Tom seemed to think that just one egg would do
If he could only master the dyes before he was through
He was certain he could invent his own unique hue

Yet, no matter how long he worked away
The result was always the same at the end of day
That Easter egg invariably ended up colored gray!

On Easter Sunday we woke to see
Our eggs displayed in a bowl so carefully
Mom and Dad always laughed with glee
Because there on the top of the heap would be
The glorious gray egg contributed by Tommy

So though the Seuss family we were not
We sure had fun and we laughed a lot
Gray eggs and ham is what we always got!


Reader’s note: Most sadly my brother Tom passed away March 2006. He was the fourth child in our set of seven and occupied that center spot in our hearts and so many other ways. Tommy we miss you, love you, and remember you always.