Mark Pirie’s new poem Uncle Warwick

This week I flew down to Christchurch for my uncle’s farewell service. My uncle, Warwick Goode (1931-2011), shared a cricket interest with me. He was an accountant and treasurer. Before he retired, he and his friends at the Canterbury University staff club used to follow cricket. I wrote the following poem as a tribute to him that I read at the service at St Christopher’s Anglican Church, Christchurch, Wednesday 3 February 2011:

MARK PIRIE

Uncle Warwick

I was the quiet boy you took

to the car show that day

in Christchurch. We walked

through the aisles of old cars,

their panels glinting bright and

colourful, and I wanted to

drive one. You said, “No,

but maybe when you’re older.”

I was the quiet boy who came

round to your place and who

shared your philatelic interest.

You gave me my first stamp

album and started me off in

collecting every stamp I could

find. My pages grew, filled with

places of the world, exotic or local.

I was the quiet boy who shared

your cricket interest, with stories

you told of the university club,

and your friends who filled their time

with a game or two. Now I’m no longer

the quiet boy and, yes, I drive a car,

and sometimes I still cut stamps

from envelopes remembering you.

Poem © Mark Pirie 2011