c/0 St. Ignatus House, Willoughby Drive, Parrametta,
New South Wales
This fifth day of July, in the year of Our Lord nineteen

hundred and thirty five
Why must I apologize every time that I sit down to write
Through my own fault I may find

You're no longer living at this address
Please excuse the lack of news
The feeling of strange privilege

for the hour of trial, in these times of distress
Mean more than years imprisoned by etiquette.


I can remember when we were children
Though I could never imagine this day
Your brother told me we'd live forever

"I'll go one better," I heard myself say
And it seems so strange, now that he's gone to recall all
these

games
While the years have divided us
Friendships have strained and broken


Oh, by the way, how's that girl that you wed
I hated you then, but I'm over the worst of it

I can't come home, I might as well say, life is short
I shall not write again