heres my tribute to him as a poet and a friend
Goodbye Donal O
A shadow of the man I have grown to know,
Lying there in this hospice bed now sleeping,
He will not be able to have the freedom to come
or go,
And inside my hardened heart is weeping,
Outside the horses are eating grasses in the
field,
As this mans eyes open and he tries to say
hello,
His spirit is so strong that he cannot or will
not yield,
His time not yet here and only he will know,
He asks to be sat in the chair by the window in
the light,
That he might feel the sunlight cross his now
ailing face,
To the very end he says he is duty bound to
fight,
Before he is willing to give up on this place,
He has spent his whole life fighting for one
thing or another,
Why would he consider taking the easy way out?
The mere thought of it just makes him shudder,
For this has not been what his time here has
been all about,
Yet lying there I see the fight slowly dying in
his eyes,
And he still tries to mend any wrong he may
have done,
Not once have I heard any painful moans or
cries,
As the light is fading from both him and the
sun,
His time draw’s near now he sleeps more and
more each day,
When I go to visit I just sit in that chair,
The time for talking is over almost done,
Somehow I think life can be so uncaring unfair,
Night time is falling on this day and on this
man,
A sad day yet a good day for we are both
parting as friend,
Recalling the first time we met and both of us
knew,
A kindred spirit a likeness to whatever the
end,
In my life such friends there are but a rare
few,
And as the sun fades and the moon rises in the
night sky,
And I think of the few short times we have
spent,
The stories we can tell or the poetry we write
or try,
Ours is a friendship that was short but heaven
sent,
Your passing will bring a tear to many an eye,
Rest easy dear friend I for one will never
forget,
How you lived nor how you died,
Your advice is something I’ll never regret,
As on that bed at low ebb you still tried.
7 October 2012
