Our Jamie - Our Generous Scot died on 05 November 2013
- and we will miss him - and value who he was
The Past is not a Country We Have Lost
The past is
not a country we have lost
It once
became a part of who we are
So we still
carry forward - with its cost
Those lessons
which hit hardest – there’s no bar
To memory
which keeps the past aflame
Or memory
which stores it – safely by
We only need
to search – to play the game
Inside our
being all our futures lie
And where we
work to build a force for good
Or make
mistakes – we’re learning from the past
Intuitive –
we’re acting as we should
Or desperate
– still cower in its blast
And yet – in
spite of all – we’re moving on
We make our
friends- our life – and learn to cope
Pick up their
best endeavours when they’re gone
And that
rewards the future - with their hope
Now
here’s the problem – so he said - Now
stay awhile and think
No man was he
to waste his time
Nor strength
on useless acts
He knew that
useless acts
Could make -
of help – a pantomime
He set things
right – then beamed and said – And now
we’ll have a drink
There’s many a man and woman and child
Has lost his
spark – in part
We mourn and
yet –the spark – still wild
Flares deep
inside the heart
No more than
body and strength and will
Upon the way
he’d have it still
Now claim
those things he left to find
Stand square
in mind – and yet be kind
You do not
take ‘to steal’
But carry on
the will and strength
Build well on
what you know
And when your
life has run its length
The reference - above that 'you do not take to steal' refers to taking the songs he sang, and keeping them live by singing .
I have 'taken' Raglan Road - to keep the memory of Jamie, though I will never be able to sing it as well...)
.. am also learning The Loch Tay Boat Song.
Jamie
Anderson – d 05 November 2013
As Jamie
hovered in between
The life he
needed and his death
His thoughts
– unconscious – were of all
His reasons
for another breath
This rock
who’d never be so poor
As Englishmen
– without the will
Of he – a
Scot – whose every act
Bespoke his
reasoning – until
When looking
far into the past
Or facing
where his future lay
He weighed
them honestly and true
Yet saw his
fitness fade away
In him no
frailty could abide
His mind was
set on sterner stuff
He’d lived as
he would have his life
His will –
his body – cried: Enough!
He thought: I would not have you grieve
I
will not now in weakness be
My
time is come and I will leave
But
please think fondly yet of me
Raise
up your voices – sing my song
Red
wine to toast in memory
The hills – the lochs – will see no wrong
They
stay – as in their constancy
They
always stood – and yet will I
I
lived – I loved – and that still stands
I
leave my music and my voice
In
wealth to you for your safe hands
I’ll
tap the time – I’ll hold the tune
In
spaces where I always stayed
Be
that at midnight or at noon
My
will continues what I made
Was settled with his wife
The Law – a
guide – no more
He worked –
and willed – and won
This good man
now was done
His smile -
his song - his will
Will haunt
our lives until
Where stories
still will spin
***
This is a song, based on his particular love for the song about the Mini Cooper, which I believe was the way he saw himself.
Jamie
Kidd Anderson 1937-2013
He and Mini Cooper had a pact to get them
through
They wrangled through the mud and took the
knocks
Hedged no bets and didn’t once consider what to
do
Their engines revving – stormed on through the
rocks
Two wheels on the corners gave them grip enough
to slide
To speed onto the straight and see them right
Cleaned up very nicely – a bit battered on the
side
The smell of engine oil was their delight
Mini Cooper’s headlights smashed a bit – and so
did he
Lurching from the bank at dead of night
Both were patched but gleaming – long before
folk came to see
‘Best foot forward’ always saw them right
Now they’re gone – but how they lived in
certainty and speed
Roaring down the forest tracks and growling
Picking up on clues – made up of thought and
will and deed
Leaving all the banshee drivers howling
He and Mini Cooper leave a memory to rest
Braw and bold and living hard and curious
Moving on and settling down – but only with the
best
His and Mini Cooper’s lives were furious
Young men are the best mechanics – old men are
too tame
He and Mini Cooper – always young
Needed to be best – ahead of every safety game
Knowing that ‘the risk’ is never wrong
Celebrate this brave young man – old age was not
his way
Roaring down the track in hail and mud
Don’t forget the power that he needed every day
All his life was living as he would
In memory of
a good friend
Jamie
Anderson
with thoughts of Jamie's wife and family
and a wish for their steady continuance