We came and read and sang and spoke, we laughed a lot, we cried
And even as we missed you it was hard to think you died
You were surely round each corrner, somewhere we just couldn’t see
Like a song without one singer, a missing harmony.
We partied and remembered you around the shape you made
The space that you’d vacated in our lives, your works and days
And the full rooms felt so empty, just so damnably Mike-free
Like a song without one singer, a missing harmony
We talked of books and trains and maps, of Taltos and Retief,
Elise throughout was silent, she had lost her voice with grief,
So the music rose without her and she listened silently
Like a song without one singer, a missing harmony.
We signed our donor cards, we hugged, your aunt said “Make a will”
We talked about memorials, we’re trying to build them still,
We’re donating books and money to your favourite library
Like a song without one singer, a missing harmony
And though we did the service right we didn’t get you back
For death is so damn final, and we’ll always feel your lack
But we’ll carry your words forward, and we’ll try to stay on key,
In a song without one singer, a missing harmony
Like a song without one singer, a missing harmony.
28th October 2006
