Ode to Stewart
“Just take a Pebble”
Half a Century has passed since our thoughts first entwined
You were really very excited as you showed me your mind
Overwhelming enthusiasm, on that day did mark us
When I came up to your room and you showed me … Tarkus!
You shook it before me saying that it was fantastic
It’s amazing the effect of a small disc of plastic
And little did we realise we were about to embark
On half a century of friendship just then in Owens Park
Always ready for a laugh and playing many games
Remembering now the past and some of the names
Remember very tall Robin with the mop of ginger hair
When you jokingly asked him if “it was cold up there?”
You got us to go to the Free Trade Hall
When Emmerson Lake and Palmer really did enthral
Emmerson jammed his keyboard by throwing steel knives
What electric excitement you brought to our lives
You took us to hear the Halle Orchestra perform
When Standing for the National Anthem was the norm
Except for our friend Peter who always flatly refused
And we all gazed on at him most thoroughly bemused
For a change we went to see Andre Segovia play
And for several encores we stamped our feet for him to stay
He was very apologetic but seemed quite inspired
When he told us he was okay but - his guitar was a little tired
In the summer we’d wander over to Platt Fields Park
Taking boats out on the lake just for a lark
Standing up in the boats when we knew we shouldn’t oughta
And using the oars to wildly splash each other with water
Then Littlecourt refectory and eating our meals
Gobbling our food amid laughter’s peels
Resulting from the many funny things that you said
Then going back to our rooms all well and truly fed
You were a wonderful person
I’m so grateful to have known you
Your influence enhanced so many lives
And I bet they’ve never outgrown you
As in ELPs song “Take a Pebble”
The ripple you created still drives
“Disturbing the Waters … of our lives”
Fare to our friend
Tony & Robin
Tony & Robin
1st August 2022
Thank you for setting up this memorial to Stewart.
We hope that you find it a positive experience developing the site and that it becomes a place of comfort and inspiration for you to visit whenever you want or need to.
Sent by Miles & Daughters Funeral Directors on 25/07/2022
I am I and you are you, whatever we were to each other that we still are.
Speak to me in the easy way which you always used.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
Life means all that it ever meant, it is the same as it ever was.
Extract from a poem by Henry Scott Holland