Yesterday I delivered a eulogy that should never have happened at this time. One of my best friends, Paul, killed himself just before Christmas. We had played golf earlier that day, enjoyed a beer with him shortly afterwards, and saw him later in the pub. In all this time, there was never any clue of what he was about to do.

He was a well known, popular local figure, to the extent that at the funeral yesterday in the Derby Cathedral there were over 600 people in attendance. I concluded the eulogy with a poem that I wrote shortly after he died. I have had may requests for the words and so decided to post them on Facebook to hopefully bring you here, that some good may come of it. Here is the poem:

I lost my friend
I lost my friend the other day
I don’t know why, he just left and went away
It’s not fair, I hear you say
There was no sign, there was no face
There was no word, just fire and ice
He didn’t ask, he didn’t wait
Just disappeared and now he’s late

So much to give, so little to take
So much is left, behind in his wake
Emotions are wild, raw and extreme
Nothing is true, quite what it seems
What can I do, what does it mean

How to move on, from something like this
How to find peace, once more happiness
It’s like in a dream It feels so unreal,
I hope that its true, they say time will heal
Maybe in time, we’ll know how to feel.

I ask that you help Mind with a small donation to help them in their support of all mental health issues.

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