I knew that through his pain he wished to give
Some thing appropriate to me a friend:
But wearing such a watch I felt a spiv –
To be an extravert I can’t pretend.
Just then I grasped how tied he was to Time
And humbly took the diary he presented,
Not guessing, though, how soon the final chime
Would strike within the flat he’d lately rented.
Yet now a greater gift I can proclaim,
Which beat old Time and clipped the wings of Death:
For I was witness to the light that came
To him, before they stopped his heart and breath.
Supremely apt and generous is he
Who helps a friend to glimpse eternity.
Jerusalem
10 October 2004