A time has come that had been expected,
A time that all may expect, and all must succumb to;
But a time that few will embrace so graciously,
And with such honour and remembrance as our friend.

That time arrived and passed all but unnoticed.
Though expected and accepted,
It was unanticipated so soon.
That unnoticed moment, though alone it passed,
Heralded a farther reaching and much greater
Portion of time in which his
Loved and loving friends
Will have only the memory,
No more the company;
Only the love,
No more his laughs;
Only the friendship,
No more the friend;
Only the Light,
No more this life.

Never did he move a mountain,
But never did he Shadow the Light.
Here is not appropriate
For discussion of the virtues,
Nor the discussion of the health,
Of the history or the vices,
For virtues are virtues,
And vices, vices:
History was set,
And could not be changed,
Any more than could a future.

But we, his loved and loving friends,
Need not discuss what we all knew:
His love, his Light, and his Life,
For all we knew we always have.
And we, his loved and loving friends,
Need discuss more what we have:
Our own Love, our Light, and our Life,
For that which we have is his always.