Goodbye England’s rose

What words? What noise? What tears?

Will ever do her justice?

Goodbye is such a hateful sound

I can’t bring myself to make it;

It’s too ugly, too hard, too final to say

To our darling Amanda, the adventurer we’ve lost.

A precious gem, loved near and far

Through continents and counties

States and countries who know who they are.

A smile as wide as mountain ranges

That lingers in every memory

Luminous with love and hope and care

Her sparkling teeth and wilful hair.

Not easy to please, not always a dream

A woman who felt and fought.

Unsurprisingly funny, and still, surprised to be.

A true performer with and without the performance

A willing host, a seasoned chef

Head held high, straight back, arms out

The kind of love that stains your life

A hug that’s steeped in kindness.

The realist, real friend I have ever known

She brought out the best in me.

Special to her core and layered like an onion

She planted seeds in all of us and even now they grow

Her will was strength unheard of

To break your heart at closer glance

Humbled in moments of weakness

She oh so rarely shared

Her short life knew the pain of ages

Pain we couldn’t heal.

It took her love, her Phil away

So cruel and far too soon.

This grief it was a monster,

And they battled night and day

It took so much to carry on

But she won the war and found a way

Tough as old boots, to weather out the rain

She would not yield, she could not slow

Just kept on running, fighting, climbing,

High as angels, flying free.

Too British for a fairytale ending

Too American to settle for less

Gone too soon, even if it’d been a hundred years from now

But now it is, it has to be.

And I can hear you now

Helping with all your strength

Holding, soothing, listening to our hearts

Telling us to dry our eyes: get up and go

Keep trying, keep living, keep holding on

So words have been said

But I don’t want them to end

Because I know that when it’s done

They’ll be nothing more to say

Except…. ‘goodbye’