Walter and Mary

 

We go through life

   with intimates few

     but there’s something special

         in sharing a pew

with friends.

 

Then something happens

   just like that

     and someone says

         “…so here’s your hat'”

and it ends.

 

Last Sunday morning

   I went back to church

     I played the horn

         in a musical search

for God.

 

“Come Holy Spirit

   Bless us” we sang

     but the words were empty

         hollow they rang;

seemed odd.

 

Cold Sunday morning

   my friends were not there

     the benches were filled

         yet they seemed so bare

           I looked all around

               saw this friend and that

                 but the friends I sought most

                     had gone elsewhere.

 

Dull dark day

   October frost

     aching heart

         something lost.

 

This was written as on ode to my friends at the time our church, Winnipeg Christian Centre, was split by politics. Walter and Mary were the second last couple to leave, and we were the last.

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