To My Dearest Jim

I remember the day,

Mom, Dad brought you home,

'Twas a rainy, gloomy day,

A forlorn face, brown eyes so kind,

Speaking of dears left behind.

         I was 10,

         You were but a kid,

         We made a pact,

         Never to be far apart.

When I used to come home,

Tired and haggard,

You were there to welcome,

With eyes like beads so brown.

        We used to play bat and ball,

         Me with my bat,

         You with your ball.

Now 7 years have gone by,

Am at high-school away,

With a group of friends,

But none close as you my friend.

         With your scampers,

         And our scrapes,

         And you trying to ape,

         All my actions,

         Peppering them with some of yours.

Today as I sit down to write,

Instead I get a letter,

From Mom to read,

I shed a tear or two,

To remember us two.

         My dear Jim,

         I have to say good bye,

         To you a long good bye,

         At your resting place,

         A final resting place,

         With your bone and bowl.

I have to be brave,

And say good bye,

With the hope of meeting again,

In another world yet again.

        Where you are the man,

        And am your best friend,

        Where you are me,  

        And I am you,

        My good old Jim.