Eulogy

I miss a man
I never met.

You see,
I did not know Tom senior.
I know his son Tommy.
I love Tommy.

So if Tommy is a
“chip-off-the-old-block”,
I would have liked Tom senior.

We would have played poker,
swooshed down a couple of Coors,
smoked a half-way decent cigar,
swapped stories about the
“buckets-of-blood”,
those bars that surrounded the
Brooklyn Navy Yard.

We would have enjoyed
each others’ company

So for those of you who loved him
and miss him terribly and
relive memories;
So I, miss him,
not for what was,
but for what could have been.

The Romans had a phrase
for most occasions,
these two fit here:

Resquiescat in pace
(Rest in Peace)

Ave atque vale.
(Hail and Farewell)

TP.