Tributes sent to us after Tim passed away

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So Many Different Lengths of Time - Brian Patten

How long does a man live after all?
A thousand days? Or only one?
One week? Or a few centuries?

How long does a man spend living or dying?
And what do we mean when we say "gone forever"?

Adrift in such preoccupations
We seek clarification

We could go to the philosophers
But they would weary of our questions
We can go to the priests and rabbis
But they might be too busy with administrators

So how long does a man live after all?
And how much does he live, while he lives?

We fret and ask so many questions
Then, when it comes to us
The answer is so simple after all

A man lives for as long as we carry him inside us
For as long as we carry the harvest of his dreams
For as long as we ourselves live, holding memories in common
A man lives

His lover will carry his man's scent, his touch
His children will carry the weight of his love
One friend will carry his arguments
Another will hum his favourite tunes
Another will still share his terrors

And the days will pass with baffled faces
Then the weeks, then the months
Then there will be a day when no question is asked
And the knots of grief will loosen in the stomach
And the puffed faces will calm
And on that day, he will not have ceased
But will have ceased to be separated by death

How long does a man live after all?
A man lives so many different lengths of time