Lloyd Lindholm

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What Will I Do With My Organs

I went to visit an old friend in the Barossa one day you know!
A friend of mine from years and years ago
We lived in the same town and went to the same school
And learned to swim in the old swimming pool

We both got married, had kids, and went our separate ways
But haven’t seen much of each other, for many and many a day
I had just learned that he recently had lost his dear wife
And that he too, was nearing, the end of his life

I knocked on his front door, and there to my surprise
Was my old friend Henry, whom I could barely recognize
His clothes were all ragged, his beard unkempt
His body stooped over, his face to the floor was bent

“Come in; Come in; ” I heard the old man say
“To whom do I have the pleasure of greeting today? ”
“‘tis Hermann your old neighbour; playmate; and friend
Remember all the good times that together we’d spent? ”

“I see; I see; yes; of course; yes… of course
You went to school in an old dray, drawn by a retired baker’s carthorse
There were five of you in that rickety old cart as I recall
That was before the end of the Second World War”

And what brought you here today;
And how did you find your own way
to a place, where all those years ago,
Children from right across town and beyond came here to play

Well I too am getting on in years
Pushing ninety-three or four, or could it be more
I thought how nice it would be
If together we could reminisce just once more, about the days now long gone before

We talked and joked about the things of the past
Like riding our trikes, our bikes, and later, the calf
We laughed and we cried
And wondered then, if this visit, might just be our last

With not much time left to talk, and a tear in his eye
It would soon be time to say a final goodbye
But Hermann! Before you go, I would like you to know
What I would do with my organs, when it’s my time to go

I listened to his wishes and although somewhat suspicious
there in his own handwriting, which could hardly be read
Was written - word for word,
Exactly …what my old friend had just said.

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