This is a poem I once wrote long ago about. Hazel. She was a regular audience member at various folk clubs where my band at the time had played. I liked her. She was funny and intelligent. There was some link from our past too, which I can't quite remember. Innocuous friend of a friend/small world sort of stuff. I was very upset when I heard she'd died so young. She seemed to like the humour and comedy of our stuff and got a lot of the jokes.
Her story has cropped up again recently on Social media. Basically she sacrificed her own life so that her child could live. This was/is the least I could do. It's never been published or sung anywhere in public before today.
Goodnight Hazel,and what a surprise:
The last time we met
there were dreams in your eyes
You'd talked about tangles
and said you'd found love
We argued on missiles: a Hawk and a Dove.
Then over a bitter we had a few laughs
A packet of crisps
and a walk through the past.
Now you're a memory,somebody said,
A story:a legend:or a poem to be read
I didn't know that your time wasn't long
Till you'd cheered the last number
And hummed the last song.
We couldn't know and you didn't tell:
A master of feelings,you hid the pain well.
Quieter than many and braver than most
We'll sing a last chorus
and raise a last toast
And those who once knew you
will quite understand
A simple farewell from a bloke in a band.
