Not Forgotten Poem by Ally Barnett

I never really met you but these feelings just won’t shake
I know you were a gentleman who’d give and never take
Born in Cootamundra, the year 1908
Your life almost an open book, your destiny, a date
I look in admiration of your truly special trait
And the memory of you lingers right across our land and state
People came from miles around just to watch you play
Menzies speaks of debt to you, he wished he could repay
Your softly spoken words of your partnership of life
With a very special Lady who's your best friend and your wife.
I may have never met you or your hand I’d never shake
But I know you were a gentleman who’d give and never take
You were knighted 1949, back then I was not born
But still I shed a tear for you, and quietly I mourn
You loved to help the children, less fortunate than some
I know you will be in their thoughts, for still some time to come
Selected by our country to play against the best
You draw your strength from in the crowd, thrash England in the Test
It was a quiet day in England, where there you almost died
With appendix close to bursting, and your wife right by your side
Your time was just not up my friend and thank God you did rise
And many more years to come for you, the Doctor’s do advise
I never really met you but these feelings I can’t shake
You truly were a gentleman who’d give and never take
So I look up to the clouds my friend and say to you my praise
With my hand upon my heart and our glasses we will raise
An impression you have left here, and never will we forget
The truly great Don Bradman, a man I’d never met.