Epitaph

Thank you for all the care and counsel
    Those many years ago;
I felt the grief rise like a groundswell,
    And count how much I owe.

So innocent, and almost pure
    Those years gone by, I was,
Alone and lost, in all unsure,
    Rebel without a cause.

The deepest debts, cannot be said,
    Repayment, in a word
Impossible—for how be paid
    The world? It is absurd.

The end came swift before I might
    Relay my thanks to you;
As you go into that good night
    I pray somehow you knew.

It matters little. Words are words,
    Yet we were bonded by
Unselfish friendship’s mystic chords
    Not broken as you die.

If there be heaven, you shall join
    Blameless angelic ranks,
Club membership not gained by coin,
    And so I give my thanks.