Title:	Absent friends
  	  dedicated to Richard "Navbuoy" Maxwell
By:	Mike Richards
Date:	19th September, 1998

It's the way of the world that, each in his time,
All of us one day must leave,
And seldom are those who remain left behind
Expecting that they soon shall grieve.

The threat of that journey stands over us all,
Whether random or whether by fate,
And when the last curtain it chances to fall,
There is only one time: it's Too Late.

For then it's too late to catch up with old friends,
And too late to make friendships new.
Yet still we all share in the sorrow chance sends,
This week we have lost one we knew.

A fighter, a jester, a scholar ne'er met,
Where we all walked he dared to fly,
And now one more question we ask on the net...
Why must we all now say goodbye?

Why must we all now say goodbye?