Missing the Dead

with props to Jim Carroll

Nobody told me George had died
I read it in a quarterly half a year later
At Ira’s service a thousand of us cried
The gaping hole left felt more like a crater
Marguerite moved south to run out her time
Now she’s with the Great Divine
She was a friend of mine

Those are people who died, died
Those are people who died, died
Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

Bobby was a biker, took me flying in his plane
But what brought him down was a tumor in his brain
His mom was the sweetest thing I’d ever met
She got married again, truly happy when she went
I didn’t even know that Dewey was sick
It hit me like a brick
Death is a prick

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

Ingrid’s plane crashed right into the ocean
Jay had a heart attack while riding his bike
Eric OD’d on a holiday weekend
The Janes slipped away in the Great Mind Heist
Jim had a burial like no other
I toast you with top-shelf tequila, brother

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

I got locked in a car at Stan’s interment
I had just wanted to say goodbye
John was nothing but mischief and laughter
Too good for the world, too young to die
Mary followed her husband up and away
I wonder if she saw me at the clinic that day

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died