Mr Lonely
I can't believe it's only
A week ago he passed,
We called him 'Mr Lonely',
A name that seemed to last.
Since he left I've been thinking
Of Mr Lonely's life;
He never went out drinking
Or caused a lot of strife.
He came from County Galway
Across the Irish Sea,
You'd pass him in the hallway,
But seldom would he be
Inclined to chat or ever
Go further than a few
Remarks about the weather,
If any change was due.
Had happiness departed
Or was he simply shy?
His hair was neatly parted,
He wore a suit and tie.
He never courted lasses,
He never went berserk,
Each morning with the masses
He bicycled to work.
No entry would he permit,
The walls were strong because
That's just the kind of hermit
Our Mr Lonely was.
Was he some nephew's uncle?
He kept it to himself
But Simon and Garfunkel
LPs lay on a shelf.
Did their songs match the feeling
In which his mind was steeped?
At times down from the ceiling
The Sound Of Silence seeped.
No family attended
The grave or read the stone
And now his life has ended
I wish he could have known,
While to his own world banished
By us he's not dismissed,
Though Mr Lonely's vanished
Forever he'll be missed.
©
I can't believe it's only
A week ago he passed,
We called him 'Mr Lonely',
A name that seemed to last.
Since he left I've been thinking
Of Mr Lonely's life;
He never went out drinking
Or caused a lot of strife.
He came from County Galway
Across the Irish Sea,
You'd pass him in the hallway,
But seldom would he be
Inclined to chat or ever
Go further than a few
Remarks about the weather,
If any change was due.
Had happiness departed
Or was he simply shy?
His hair was neatly parted,
He wore a suit and tie.
He never courted lasses,
He never went berserk,
Each morning with the masses
He bicycled to work.
No entry would he permit,
The walls were strong because
That's just the kind of hermit
Our Mr Lonely was.
Was he some nephew's uncle?
He kept it to himself
But Simon and Garfunkel
LPs lay on a shelf.
Did their songs match the feeling
In which his mind was steeped?
At times down from the ceiling
The Sound Of Silence seeped.
No family attended
The grave or read the stone
And now his life has ended
I wish he could have known,
While to his own world banished
By us he's not dismissed,
Though Mr Lonely's vanished
Forever he'll be missed.
©




One thing that baffles me is how poets like Houseman are regarded as lesser writers. The introduction calls him a 'gifted amateur'. Bloody cheek! Similarly, John Betjeman is described as a 'major minor poet' in a biography. When will the intellectuals ever start to recognise real greatness? They probably think Pam Ayres and Spike Milligan are rubbish too


I'm just catching up with the thread now