funeral speech

[savage1]

my best friend has just died tragically away from home,he was only 23 and i have to make the speech on monday at the church after his father who wants me to be as positive as i can.any suggestions for a poem or few words to sign it off

[Doctor]

I wonder if this one would work?

Let me not see old age

Let me not see old age: Let me not hear

The proffered help, the mumbled sympathy,
The well-meant tactful sophistries that mock
Pathetic husks who once were strong and free,

And in youth's fickle triumph laughed and sang,

Loved, and were foolish; and at the close have seen
The fruits of folly garnered, and that love,
Tamed and encaged, stale into grey routine.

Let me not see old age; I am content

With my few crowded years; laughter and strength
And song have lit the beacon of my life.
Let me not see it fade, but when the long
September shadows steal across the square,

Grant me this wish: they may not find me there.

by D.R Geraint Jones

Do you have any information about D.R.Geraint Jones? I am compiling an anthology of poetry and would like to include "Let me not see old age".

[remembrancebook]

Originally Posted by cjr

Do you have any information about D.R.Geraint Jones? I am compiling an anthology of poetry and would like to include "Let me not see old age".

I think it was written by the following composer:

The Welsh organist, and conductor, Dr Geraint (Iwan) Jones

Born: May 16, 1917 – Porth, Wales, UK
Died: May 3, 1998

In 1951 he founded the Geraint Jones Singers and Orchestra, which he led in many performances. He also was a music director of the Lake District Festival from 1960 to 1978, a music director of the Kirckman Concert Society from 1963, artistic director of the Salisbury Festival of Arts from 1972 to 1977, and artistic director of the Manchester International Organ Festival from 1977.

Can't be sure about this, but I think it was a song he wrote for the Geraint Jones Singers.

Hope this helps.

The Geraint Jones Who Wrote The Poem Let Me Not See Old Age Was Not The Composer Geraint Iwan Jones. I Believe He Was A Soldier Killed In Ww2, And This Poem Has Appeared In At Least One Anthology.

Lyndon Pugh, Powys, Wales.

My family believed that D R Geraint Jones was from Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire

[mamamia11]

He was a friend of my late father, who knew him at Cheltenham College. I have a printed collection of three poems, including 'Let me not see old age..', written in the Spring of 1944. He served as a Lieutenant in the 159th Infantry Brigade, and died of wounds in Normandy on the 28th June, 1944 at the age of 22.