Jean would have been 67 years old today.
We were married in 1976 and I still recall being asked in 1979 in an interview with my new employer who my best friend was.
I replied in an instant without hesitation, Jean, my Wife.
So, The Divine Comedy comes to mind, not the work by Dante, but the song Absent Friends, by the group. Written and performed by Neil Hannon.
" Absent friends, here's to them
And happy days, we thought that they would never end
But they always end.
Little Jean seemed so full of life, but in those eyes such troubled dreams.
Poor little Jean "
It is of course a reference to the American actress Jean Seberg, but it's still a good song.
Another song with the same title but completely different, Absent Friends, The Fureys, is more significant.
" Time heals wounds they say. Time takes the pain away.
I wonder why it never happens for me.
It's years since you passed away but I miss you night and day.
Why you had to go is a mystery to me.
What seemed important then becomes trivial when
Fate deals the card that forces your hand
All the places we'd been, all the things we had seen
No more in the future, it just isn't planned.
Small things you'd do weave pictures of you
They're printed for life on the back of my mind
I was always so sure. Your life was so pure.
To the faults and to bad times a loved one stays blind.
I always found that when you were around
You helped me with worries and eased all my fears
You always had time for problems of mine
A shoulder to cry on, a listening ear "
Colin :
30/12/2023