Goodbye 2013, Goodbye Roger

 

2013 was a year full of highs and lows.  The biggest low being that I lost one of my dearest friends.  There will forever be a part of my heart missing as I suspect there will be for anyone who knew Roger.  My children have lost a confidant, an excellent role model and a member of our family.  Death is such a hard thing to comprehend, one minute this person is a part of your life and the next they are gone forever, leaving an empty feeling in the pit of your stomach that rears its ugly head at the mere mention of that person's name.  I will forever be grateful for having over 20 years with Roger but I will mourn the time that we lost.  I miss you my dear friend, everyday. 

I wanted to read this poem at Roger's funeral but I did not get the opportunity.

Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-1973)

Funeral Blues

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone.
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling in the sky the message He is Dead,
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever, I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun.
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.