This does not signify anything nor foretell any imminent event. But when the time comes, I wanted to be able to conduct some aspects of the inevitable proceedings. Therefore, I submit this for the lucky one who is asked to say a few words.
My Farewell (Eulogy)
To my family and friends,
Do not be sad,
But help me celebrate all that was good and true
In this life I was given.
It seems that the curses and blessings
Came in equal measure
Balanced one against the other.
So, in the end, there were few regrets.
There were bridges not crossed,
Dice not tossed and offered hands let slip.
For all of that, chance spared me the worst
That might have been.
I dared more than was wise
And stood on ice too thin to offer assurance
And proceeded blind
When eyes should have been wide open.
But still, they were risks that fell in my favour.
Some might argue that point
With some justification,
But from where I stand
Pluses outweigh minuses.
I had family to warm my heart.
I had friends to stand by my side.
I had no worry for food or shelter
And could support many less blessed than me.
It has been good beyond my wildest hope.
The music that sustained me
Was the stuff of Heaven
As varied as flowers of the fields
And beyond my power to understand.
I was blessed with visions
That exceeded my capacity to grasp,
Then given words to express
What I could only sense.
That is my legacy,
An inheritance of bad poetry and dull prose
That will outlast my presence.
Un-rhyme’d and un-rhythm’d pieces
In which I tried to capture
Ghostly will-o’-the-wisps and spectral phantoms,
Forever dancing in my head
Since I first knew left from right,
To pin them down with words
And fix them to a body of work
That I could stand back and say at last,
“I’m finished.”
“It is done.”
As am I.
