Calvin Curtis R.I.P.

Calvin Curtis R.I.P.

Built like an ox,

Full of good cheer,

You seemed beyond the reach of early death.

Beer and f**s, smiles and jokes

Were your daily currency,

Your natural habitat.

Your lust for life was plain for all to see.

 

When last we met,

You were in clover:

Back in the city you loved,

Happy in a brand new school,

Flush with your ISHCMC windfall*.

We reminisced on the good old days,

And, as usual, you outdrank me.

Who could have predicted that two weeks hence

You’d be stone dead in an ambulance?   

 

Calvin Curtis, I’ll miss your mirth.             

Although at first there was a dearth

Of matiness between us two,

Lately, as old colleagues sometimes do,

We’d discovered common ground;

Through beer and banter we had found

Each other’s company fun.

Our newfound friendship just begun,

You ceased to be, you left me stunned.

Your repartee, your rubicund

And smiling face were gone forever.

But, old friend, naught can sever

The laughs we had, the bond that grew.

Though now you’re merely ash, it’s true,

I’ll never forget the living man:

A gentle giant, a Desperate Dan.

Your life, so short, was not in vain:

Although you died in awful pain,

Your genial ways were laudable,

Your merry laugh still audible

To my ears today. So, old friend,

My elegy has now been penned,

And, wherever your shade may be,

Please rest in peace for eternity.

 

  [*This year, Calvin received from Cognita half a month’s salary for each of the 12 years he had worked at ISHCMC.]

 

 

Kevin Mulqueen 30/10/2014