Threes

Well, there it is.

Two weeks ago someone who taught me a lot about writing passed away, he'd had a good innings and, in his own way, he was a great man.

This week a cousin of mine died at the age of 37 - for no apparent reason. We weren't particularly close but it's bad to go so young and he was married with kids.

And today I learned that someone with whom I had fought goblins and demons* has also gone though I hadn't seen him in many years.

So that's three.

I don't happen to believe that death is the end of things so I don't mourn the dead. But my heart breaks for those left behind because it hurts so much.

When my sister died of pancreatic cancer (one of the incurables that kills fast and is excruciatingly painful) a few years ago I had the opportunity to say goodbye but could not be at her funeral. So instead I wrote a poem which was read out:

A Gap in Life
Before you were gone
We remember how you filled
Your space and ours,
With a zest that blazed
And a love that burned
With gentle fire.

At first we could not accept
The gap that you once filled.
It seemed you remained
And we were shocked each time
We came across that gap in life
Where we expected you to be
And you were not.

There may come a time
That the hole that was you
Will slowly fill
And the rest of the world
Will seep into the void
That you left
When you went away.

And the pain of the memory
Of that gap you left,
Will only be a memory.

But now, there is a gap in life
That once you filled.
And until the world seeps in
We will remember how
You brightly filled
Your gap in life, and ours.

So there we go.

Enjoy life because otherwise there is no point.


*With rubber swords.

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What's on the turntable? "Key to the Highway" by Derek & The Dominoes from "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs"