Loss

To all the friends I erst had known and loved, to those who once had loved me,
To all the places I have been and enjoyed never more to see,
To all who have encouraged me – aided Life’s troubled seas to cross –
You’ve gone. Faded into my past. This tear I shed – is for your loss.

To helping hands providing help to me when I was in deep need,
To smiles on caring faces turned on me – encouragement indeed!
To ears that listened. Shared my burden. Brought out the fairest of Life’s gloss:
You’ve gone. But you have made me what I am. This tear – honours your loss.

I wish they were still here, those friends. That happy times endured forever.
But times change. People move on. Friends are friends but short times together.
Their kind faces seem angelic. The present people are but dross.
Those helped me get to where I am today. This tear – salutes your loss.

These memories of happy times and places live inside my head.
I’d recreate them in a heartbeat. But – alas! – those times are dead!
Those happy hours are barred to me by Time’s untraversable fosse.
To those who once did wish me well: this tear shed celebrates your loss.