Memories of Martian

Just last week I was dancing with Martian the fishing guide

It turned out to be the week just before he died

The man who started looking like his prey as he aged

Eyes and teeth getting bigger

Munching away on this fine duck dinner in the restaurant in Heriot Bay

Drinking in the lounge

saying, “this does not quite sound as good to me

as the music that was being played

When I was a young man

But I got to go to the show

Enjoy as much of this as I can before I go”

Standing out in a crowd as the oldest guy up dancing

Song after song, with a big grin on

The way we all keep wishing more of the men around here would do

With beautiful girls for partners

Laughing and grinning all the way

Come to think of it he’s been at almost every one I’ve gone to this winter,

Every time I got up to play,

He’s doing the just same

Always wants to hear my latest poetry

Discuss the ideas behind the words

Or singing out on the smoking deck

“And we won’t give a damn when we drink our rum

With the girls of old Maui”

Martian knew it all, word for word,

Wearing what he refers to as his super bowl rings

Gold that he’s won in derbies

Of his own pro sport

Profession, passion in life

Last fall we were talking

By the parking lot in Heriot Bay

Got splashed by a huge chum jumping right by the beach

and he’s saying

“that fish is so horny he barely knows what he’s doing

just trying to get to the creek as fast as he can”

Splashed by a big one

and it’s “That fish just made my day”

As we go on our separate ways

with his presence in life getting ever more vivid and intense

just before he went

This is Martian, always our friend.