For George... Poem by David Lewis Paget

(In Memory of the Reverend George Potter...)

How do I tell the world you've gone
Old friend, with never a tear,
When we knew each other for ever so long
In the world that spins out there,
For we rubbed along with an easy grace
And you taught me how to pray,
I thought that you'd see me out, old friend,
But death has snatched you away!

I mind when the stage of life was full
And we bent our backs to the toil,
When the days and the nights weren't long enough
And we burned the midnight oil,
When we schemed and dreamed of a better world,
And we played our part throughout,
With what it took, with a wing and a prayer
We saw it all work out!

The years went by and I saw you still
When you called, with that friendly smile,
And a joy it was in those afternoons
When we'd talk a measured mile,
I thought you'd always be there for me,
A friendship forged in steel,
For friends are few when the friend is true,
But the friend in you was real.

But now the shadows have lengthened at
The long, hard end of things,
As I sit in the shaded garden seat
And wait for the pain it brings,
But how do I tell the world you've gone
Old friend, with never a tear,
With my eyes awash at your memory,
As you're laid to rest out there?

21 May 2010