Growing up in the 1960s, getting new clothes for Easter Sunday was a big deal.

I don’t know where she found it, but one spring Mom came home with a “coat of many colors” for middle-brother Dave.

It was … to use a dated word … snazzy.

Nearly 40 years later, Mom remembered that jacket in a poem:

David

Growing up
you prized foil candy wrappers
a bright heap on your bookcase
made merrier by the sun

Your younger brother later your own son
revered the little jacket that you loved
Joseph’s Coat
at four and jaunty by the car
you stand in its bold stripes on Easter morning

What you do now with your music
comes from these colors
dressing the sky and birds and blossoms
in the notes you write
the world you see

~ joan vayo December 27, 2000

Mom and Dave both celebrated their birthdays around Easter. Dave’s middle name is Joseph.

In the Old Testament, the coat of many colors represented Joseph’s birthright. It also taught the lesson of how ugly jealousy is.

Happily, none of Dave’s siblings was envious of that jacket or of his tremendous musical talent. Happy belated birthday, Dave – and may there be many more!

“David” © 2000 joan vayo. All rights reserved.

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