Poem 141: Final Tribute

There’s a band on Brookes Street that has been together for a while

Decided to play their last performance and go out in style

Together they have been experiencing many highs and lows

But every night they had their members out to maintain the show

The number of musicians varied from night to night

No matter how many participated they got through it alright

They played every evening and never found the time to rehearse

The more members playing, the sound of it just got worse

Instruments used were improvised by each attendee

The whole objective was to be as loud as you could be

Most of us banged a pot or chose to ring a bell

Judging by the noise level, we all did very well

At one time our whole block came out to play

Then the numbers just slowly dwindled away

Some nights the neighbourhood children would join us in the fun

Essentially it came down to six that would continue on this run

I can’t say for sure when was our first day

Seems to me this tradition started last year in the month of May

Needless to say it has continued going and it was never done

Most nights we had full attendance, some nights it was down to one

It was decided that this Thursday past would be our last engagement

Attendance would be a must for what would be our final arrangement

So there was Meredith, Margaret, Jack and myself, four of us alone

Rick was gone hunting and Denise would join us on the phone

This is the group that has kept this tribute going strong

It was a nice touch to have three grandchildren play along

Denise was out of town and didn’t want to make us have to wait

Now when you count the kids,  our finale totaled eight

Eighteen months or five hundred and twenty nine days we were out each and every night

To honour all these selfless front line workers that choose to continue in this fight

These people are also heroes in every single way

That is why we chose to stop on this Remembrance Day

They may not be in a war, but they have to battle through it all

They like soldiers, have chosen to answer the call

They have casualties and deaths like on a battlefield

This virus is an enemy that refuses to yield

Just because we aren’t banging the pots doesn’t mean we have forgotten you

We are still admiring every one for all the things you do

You should also be honoured because you have chosen to defend

We are hoping that this conflict will soon come to an end