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Posted with the kind permission of the Foothills
Sentinel,
Carefree, Arizona
Foothills Sentinel,
December 13 - December 19, 2000
Poem, memories to say goodbye to a good friend.
By Cheryl A. Duncan-Dudgeon -- Special to the Sentinel
How like our friend to lose his life while saving
another? How ironic for a part of the nature he so loved and protected
to take him from us? Geoffrey Platts has forever touched our lives and
made his mark across continents and our souls. A part of us is gone now,
but he will be remembered in our hearts forever.
I was fortunate to have had Geoffrey as a very special friend in my
life. I so enjoyed the postcards he would send me since he did not have
a telephone or e-mail. Who could write like he did with such flair and
humor? Just two years ago he was part of Billy's and my wedding
ceremony. Along side of Reverend Bob Hutson, Geoffrey read both the
Apache and Navajo Wedding Ceremonies. He ended his part of the ceremony
with an unplanned poem, which clearly showed the English humor we had
come to love.
One of his favorite poems was "In Memoriam," by Alfred Lord
Tennyson (1809-1892). It was penned by a grieving Tennyson to enshrine
the memory of his soul-friend Arthur Henry Hallam who died suddenly in
1833.
* * *
Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.
* * *
Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife,
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.
* * *
Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times,
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
And ring the fuller minstrel in.
* * *
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite,
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.
* * *
Ring out the old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold,
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.
* * *
Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand,
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.
This was Geoffrey's bit of wisdom for the New Year to the readers of
the Foothills Sentinel on January 6, 1999. I am sure he would feel it
appropriate in our time of sorrow today. Dear friend, we will miss you
greatly. |
