The English Disease

Twenty years I knew him,
never said a word
in all our many meetings
his wife could not have heard.

Talked about the weather
(the English never change),
work, of course, the Test Match;
he noticed nothing strange.

Much the same as usual
my life is chugging on.
Twenty years I knew him,
another ten have gone.

But, waking in the small hours,
I sicken, just the same,
to see those lovely features
in the crematorial flame.