It’s time, for the last time, to cast off the moorings
And lay in a course for a distant sun.
There’ll be no homecoming from this final voyage,
No happy reunion when this journey’s done.
One star will burn brighter with your soul inside it,
While my world is darkened by your sudden lack;
For I cannot go with you on this final voyage
And I know that there’s no chance you’ll ever turn back.
So here’s to the memory of times spent together:
To love, blood, and laughter; to fear, joy, and pain.
There’ll be no homecoming from this final voyage–
Yet somehow I’m certain I’ll see you again.
Paul Haynie
2/13/1993
This is a requiem, though it was inspired by listening to the theme to “Star Trek: Deep Space 9” rather than any specific death. We had just gotten home from Capricon (an SF convention) and I was TRYING to write a lyric for that theme, but I didn’t know the them well enought, and ended up with a significantly different meter.
Update: My good friend Tom Parker, know in my journal as Clueless Tom, died on March 17, 2006, at the age of 50. As of that time, I had written all of two melodies in my life; I woke up on the morning of the 18th with a melody to go with this poem in my head. Since Tom had been part of the social situation that brought this song into being, it was pretty much a moral obligation to sing it at his memorial service. It went over pretty well.