FOR MARK

I had a yen to write a poem for a friend
Who passed away just before Christmas Day
But I lost my nerve because I didn’t deserve
To be called a pal when I didn’t know he was ill

But then you hear a friend has died

You lose touch, life goes on, you move away
You don’t exchange a word in years
But time rolls back and memories stir
Forgotten moments are suddenly near

When you hear a friend has died

Exchanging banter becoming friends
We sat in an office for several years
A hundred million years ago
So why’s it reducing me to tears

When you’re told a friend has died

The first time that we met
On interview day I was still a brat
But for many years afterwards
He called me “The Prat in the Hat”

Messenger pings - a friend has died

That was twenty-eight years ago
A heartbeat – the blink of an eye
Lives pass by before you know
The privilege was to know this guy

You learn this when a friend has died

Every day in his suit and his tie
With his many little sayings
From days when such things
Weren't politically incorrect

Fond memories when a friend has died

There are no pockets in shrouds
You’re in early, shit the bed Lloydy?
Patience is a virtue, seldom found in man
And never in a woman

Gain new meaning when a friend has died

It’s twenty eight years since our meeting
Just before his big birthday caused jokes
Back then forty seemed so very old
Now it seems such a long time ago

You see how time passes when a friend has died

In those far gone days he smoked for Britain
“Jurassic Mark” seemed a man out of time
Yet he was always so proud of his children
And worked for CAFOD in his spare time

You remember such things when a friend has died

He would enjoy a Clint Eastwood movie
And liked to make fun of his best mates
There were rumours he knew Paula Wilcox
I think they went out on a couple of dates

Fragments of life matter when a friend has died

He seemed to always love my drawings
Turned out he kept them in darkened drawers
The last time we met was a party
Where my pictures they plastered the walls

Small kindnesses recalled when a friend has died

When he decided it was time to go
He chose the longest night of the year
Last working day before Christmas
I get a message to dampen good cheer

It’s never a good time when a friend has died

I never hear from anyone now
Unless someone I once knew has died
Once again I didn't even know he was ill
Somehow in my head friends still abide

So it’s such a shock when a friend has died

My indestructible friend has died
A light like the last gasper burned out
He’d think writing this poem was stupid
With fond memories from the prat in the hat

You do these things when a friend has died

Mark McNicolas, friend and former colleague died December 21st 2016