To An Old Buddy Poem by Bill Galvin

Thought of you recently, Ron… the old times,
The hipper ways of our younger days,
Back in the late 60s, early 70s…

That was a few months ago, I wondered where you ended up,
During long moments of retrospection,
Of an old memory's jigsaw puzzle recollection.
You had gone to Colorado way, way back,
And we both knew why we had to go our separate ways.

We were both suffering dark and turbulent times;
Too much of this and that, and we both had lost our marriages;
And we had to restart our lives in different directions.

I recall those ‘69 BSA Lightnings…
How we bought them new together…
You got yours a week before mine, out of the showroom,
And you taught me how to ride on yours till mine came in.
Then I dumped the week-old bike in the practice parking lot
The day we were to pick up mine.
You laughed as I flipped over the bars, landed on my back,
As the bike lay on its side throttling upwards,
Then tossed my helmet a hundred feet away in disgust.
I gave you my new ride, as we swapped them that day,
In case there was hidden damage…
(But, it turns out, it was mostly to my ego) .

Like twin brothers we rode the roads,
Sometimes side by each, most often with you in the lead.

So I tried to recollect from an old mental archive
What we looked like back then…
The only long-hairs in a conservative engineering world;
Until I found an old photo of myself two weeks ago;
It turned up around the middle of this past July…
But no one had taken our picture together; so, none of you.

Searching the local newspaper site today, by happenstance,
I found that you had indeed returned to the area…
Because there was the obit picture of Ron D Henry,
Aged 73… deceased… ironically, July 16.

That old photo of the young you, Ron, hit me square in the face…
It was that handsome, introspective, edgy guy from the early 70s.

A friendship both cursed and blessed;
Both dangerous and beneficent.

Two guys rode together for a few years;
Two souls bonded for a while;
Till we got to that big ole fork in Life's road.

Sorry I wasn't aware… sorry I wasn't there…
Sorry we were living again side by each, not knowing…
Around the corner from one another again.

The not knowing brings tears to my eyes.

Here's to back then - a whiskey raised, a roll-up passed,
Laughs shared, two souls bared… lives recast.

I hope you found your peace… I'm still working on mine.

Ron, this is my first thank you, as well as my last goodbye.

August 1,2017