Dan
(for Daniel Marchbank)
You said you liked watching the rain
running down your window.
You can’t see why people complain.
The movies flickered on your screen
in cinematic dreams. You knew all the directors,
like you knew all the bands. Oasis
to the Chilli Peppers to the Wu-Tang Clan.
I used to come round to drink cups of decaf.
We swapped cigarettes, shrugged off regrets,
had a laugh. We talked about the days
when you partied in a haze. Clubbed it up
‘til you went off the rails. The lows and the highs.
The good times and the fails.
You had a warm heart but you played it cool.
You had a smile for your friends, no time for fools.
Ray-Bans hid the sadness in your eyes
the heavy melancholy, the turmoil in your life.
I wish I could come around and see you now.
Under electric light, the clouds unloading down.
Watch the rain from the panes of Somerton House.
That sad morning it all got too much.
I miss big Dan with his human touch.
With his reason and his rhymes and the love inside.
You’d still be here if you didn’t take that dive.
I recall that song you put on, Bat for Lashes:
“Daniel, when I first saw you,
I knew that you had a flame in heart”
At your church service friends and neighbours
lit candles for you. For the memories of Dan
and the light that flickered in his heart.
Ben Preston 