[ Ode to John ]

                                          ODE TO JOHN


How to describe a mate like john, with the thoughts still freshly stinging, of now that he’s gone,
With a laugh and a smile, I think that would be best, a good way, to remember him now he’s at rest,

Always there with a coffee or smoke, willing to listen to you're terrible joke,
But I caution you, as to what not to do, because if you ever got lost, don’t ask him the way, don’t get me wrong and don’t have any doubt, oh he will tell you, of each level crossing and each roundabout, each traffic light and each turn to the left, each T-junction, and each turn to the right,

All this in one sentence, without taking a breath, you're eyes glazing over, almost ready to pop, as he carries on with no comma or full stop, he fires directions at a terrible pace, you start to think, with a blankness of face, I didn’t want to go there in the first bloody place, as he repeats the directions he gives you find you're slowly losing the willingness to live,

Most days at lunch he’d sit with me and Mand, we didn’t mind as we thought he was grand, the trouble with that as he often did find, he just couldn’t eat and laugh at the same time, they worked me a treat, those pair of buggers, they set me up just nicely just right for a mugging, when I looked back down, she’d nicked my pudding,


When doing a late, he’d have coffee to hand, as that bloke had more sleeve’s than any one in the land, he introduced to me milk that was sour, oh boy it helped pass the lateness of the hour, after four or five coffee’s we just didn’t care, what! Get out without paying, oh don’t you dare, he would snarl and would frown, then stare them down, they would fumble about there money to pay, and then john would then send them merrily away








When I first met him he scared me to death, with his gravely voice and his fiery breath, there’s a car park that was, it was called middle earth, a place that was more trouble, than ever it was worth, he once said don’t worry I’ll show you how, come on then Bing there parking it now, I went with him gladly my eyes all agog, I watched and admired, as he practiced his skill, just like a lion getting ready for the kill, his arms waving here, and his arms waving there, as parked up the car with precision and care,

Oh then disaster something had gone wrong, we’d got the right hymnbook but got the wrong song, as the cars I could see were parked in a spiral, no one could get out, an no one could get in, thinking quickly as I could do then, I radioed to all and those that could hear, I’d like you to know I’m not with him,       

That’s how I remember, a mate like john, with the memories, still stinging now that he’s gone, I thank you john for the laughs big and small, and me like the others will remember them all, and for being there for me, when I had a fall, I imagine him there standing outside the gate, in his coat and his cap, and a coffee in hand, he’s talking to st peter and getting irate,
I told you once, now listen to me; you’re not parking that chariot there without paying the fee,

But I don’t think for one minuet, we’ve heard the last of john, with our memories still stinging now that he’s gone, what ever you thought, and what ever you think, john’s legacy for us, will forever live on.