The loss of a friend, long gone

Today I learned that a long-lost friend of mine died 4 years ago. I've been trying to reconnect with him for 5 years - and realise now why my efforts were futile. He was beautiful and I'm sure he still is - wherever he resides. I asked him to write me something before I left the Netherlands in 2000, and this is what he gave me...

Beware the sling + arrows of outrageous fortune
They find in man a range of being
From the stoic altitude of quiet fortitude
to the siren song of the muse set forth

Who's to shout of life's joys + cruelties
who of the mortal world of thought
To write or not to write; that is the question
To answer involves a leap of faith

Who is brave enough to place soul on paper
To render bare what all must hide
Humanity revealed, in black + white, on paper
Testament to mans quest for self

So wherewithal this writing business
this note in life's impartial eye
Feed me now what food can't nourish
Those stirrings of my mentor's minds

I place these words for your perusal in answer to your honest self
I wish you every 'fate's' indulgence
So you may gain your 'chosen' life
Beware! indulgence is an utter folly
what bounds, know not human conceit

I bid you check your sense perspective
Ensure it's point is you, your life!
For as you know perspective is everything
From where we look determines life

A book is surely one of man's great wonders
A chance to 'see' through another's eyes

May your heart be peaceful now, Draighnean...