Poem for a friend

[Colm Roe]

This was written for one of my oldest and best friends who died last week in Washington DC. Imperfectly written because I wasn't concerned about the finer details we critique here. He was given 6 months and I was trying to get a visa to see him but he only lasted 2 weeks. His two brothers (here in Ireland) were delayed because it took so long to get a visa and were on approach to Dulles Airport when he died. He was only 56. Not looking for sympathy! More a case of posting it here to put something new on the page. His identical twin was touched enough to read it at the funeral, which was on Zoom but we couldn't hear the service because the church wasn't allowed to connect the camera to their PA system...Covid restrictions! He was such a popular guy, hundreds of people attended the (completely silent) Zoom funeral...you can't make this shit up.
There were only a handful of people in the church and he was cremated BEFORE the service...like he'd contaminate the building! I'm hoping they'll bring some of his ashes home and we can give him a proper send-off.

Poem for a friend.

So you've gone,
drifted away
earlier than expected.
We planned to see you
before your exit,
but no matter,
nothing new to be said.
You didn't need to tell us
that you loved us...again,
or retell all those stories
again.

Our lives are permanently tangled,
decades of you embedded
in our DNA.
Too tight to be unravelled
or removed.

You've escaped the pain
and that last cruel goodbye.

Not quite gone.
A drift of you,
still touches the very air
that surrounds us.

Not gone Mac,
never gone!
A drift of you
will warm us all,
forever.

[Dave]

Hi Colm
Sorry to hear about your friend and that you and his family could not get to see him
A fitting tribute and very touching. A good poem.
Dave
 

[Colm Roe]

Thanks Dave.

[Gyppo]

Goodbye poems to friends aren't meant to be polished perfection.  Feelings aren't always tidy.

I wrote one a few years back for my oldest friend who committed suicide and left a lot of questions.  But it helps to say goodbye in our own way.

...decades of you embedded
in our DNA.
Too tight to be unravelled
or removed.

Yeah, says it all.

Gyppo