The re-acquaintance

Ah ‘tis you again my friend,
Lord it’s been, how many years?
Since the walls they rang with laughter
as our cheeks tumbled with tears.

We swore that we would stay in touch
Tell me, it can't be so!
Did we both speak those empty words
Twenty years ago?

Tell me, where did all the time go
How did it slip away?
Perhaps we were distracted
By life’s constant bob and sway.

Well now; look who’s turned up,
My word, the gang’s all here
But they all look like old men now
Old, bald, and sere

Once the world was ours to conquer
Our hearts were filled with song
What crazy times we had my boy
We were young, bold and strong!

Unfettered by concern
Unburdened with regret
Our voices sang with joy of life
Every time we met.

Or so it seems to me now
Perhaps my old mind’s failing
But they seemed much simpler times then
Life seemed to me - plain sailing

Still it’s friends now we are still
Here’s to all our joy and tears
I’d like to raise a glass together
To our acquaintance through the years

But shame; too long we waited
For though the gang’s all gathered round
It’s in remembrance we’ve assembled
and tis you there in the ground.