In Memoriam
A tuneful elegy in harmonious verse, nothing crude,
To commemorate the common heritage of our blood;
Was what I thought I would write. A tribute,
Graceful and polished, but stemming from the heart.
Not the public sermon garnished with sententious truth,
About the inevitability of death and so on;
Bit something fresher, ore sincere, though still a work of
art.
But then I thought of you and couldn’t go on.
So it is always when I think of you.
Sometimes even when I don’t intend to.
Walking back from the office, in the bus, or at rest,
You come silently into my thoughts, I see you stand,
Just as you silently into my thoughts, I see you stand,
Just as you were, hair immaculate, neatly dressed,
But with that faraway look on your face.
Eyes abstracted, walking stick resting in one hand:
Although now you take up no space.
The silent fellowship was always shared,
Endures still. None of us ever really cared
To speak; when instead of speech silence would do
As well. But a strange silence it is, when each
Knows what the other thinks, you even known
The words we could have spoken; did we them
But put our faith in speech.
Being, both of us, silent and taciturn men.
Does fond imagination shed
A flattering light around the memories of the dead
A bright nimbus. I do not know, but I always find,
Whenever shadows lengthen and sudden remembrance
Brings
Your familiar face and aspect to the mind
That speech between us is quite unnecessary.
And among so many other things
I am grateful for the memory.
