A Poem For A Friend

This is a very personal post for me but something that I really wanted to share.  If you follow me on social media, you may have seen that we recently lost a close family friend very suddenly.  It has been a tough time for our family and something that is still quite difficult to process.  But I know he wouldn’t want us to be too sad and rather cherish all our wonderful memories!

Our friend has now made it home safely to his family in Australia.  On what would have been his 50th birthday, they will hold a memorial for him to honor his life.  Below is a poem I have written about our friendship and time we spent together.  I hope this gives you a little bit of the essence of what a great person he was and the impact he had on our lives.

A Poem For A Friend

We met some 15 years ago,

At a nickel mining operation in the west,

Myself a young naïve graduate,

Yourself trying to teach me what you knew best.

A friendship quickly formed between us three,

You, myself and Troy – the newbies, fresh to mining,

Bonding over footy, Friday night drinks,

And sometimes expensive dining!

Workwise, we went our separate ways,

But our mateship remained strong,

Over the years our career paths would cross and weave,

But we knew who we could always rely on.

We began to travel and explore the world,

Many adventures we would enjoy,

From Melbourne to Munich, Bali and New York,

Even expat life in York to work with Troy!

One of our recent favorite things to do,

Has been to reminisce about all the good times,

Because we had all slowed down a little recently,

With age, parenthood and too many purchases from Amazon Prime.

You have been there for so many of our life events,

Including the day our little girl arrived,

Thank you for watching over her these past few years,

Hanging out with the three of us, she has thrived!

For the past 12 months,

you really have been a part of our family,

Trapped in the UK during this global pandemic,

Relying on each other to keep our sanity.

And then one unassuming Saturday in March,

In an utterly cruel twist of fate,

Someone decide you should now be our angel friend,

But guess what? You forgot to say goodbye, mate.

Glenn, GD, Glennus, Mr Dunn,

There is no doubt you were the people’s person,

It feels as though the entire world is grieving your loss,

Everything now is simply a little worsen.

I still cant quite believe that you are gone,

And that we will never have another chat.

Share a meal. Have a laugh. Jump on a plane.

Or anything fun like that.

You lived your life to the fullest,

Never having any regrets,

And going forward I will always try to think,

What would Glenn do? Have a guess!

Goodbye my dear old friend,

You will be missed more than you will ever know,

I will cherish the epic memories,

and the knowledge you bestowed.

Now its simply time to sadly let you go. RIP Glenn and see you again someday in another time and place x