Change (in Memory of Leebeth Armon)

On Sunday evening an old friend phoned to tell me the sad news that another old friend had passed away after a long fight with cancer. Leebeth Singleton entered my world like a whirlwind in the summer of 1984. We were doing CSSM together in Portrush and she was maybe the first artist I'd met who looked like an artist. She was going through her orange phase and everything she wore was was bright and orange. We clicked and a few of us hung around for that summer, loving each other, milking life dry. There were wonderfully carefree days when we as Kerouac wrote we were "made to live, mad to talk and mad to get saved." I wonder how much my interest in the arts was driven by her short time in my life.

I haven't seen Leebeth for over twenty years. I had no idea who she married or what family she had. I knew she'd gone to Tanzania but had no idea what she was doing. Hearing of her death hit me hard. I missed not knowing. She was still my friend though we never got that chance to catch up. I looked out this very old poem about the changes a few months brought way back in our youth. It is the same feelings that changes brought in the two decades since. It was written for Leebeth and I put it on the page as a tribute. I've missed you girl...

Change

Long hot summer
The chosen few
Walking together in the sun
The sea so crystal blue
Friendships made in heaven
Born in love and trust
Never wanted the sun to set
But I guess we knew it must
And we'd go to different places
With different dreams and romances
Something changes, maybe us
But mainly the circumstances
So let us not forget the past
Or find the present strange
Let's treasure all the memories
To live together through the change
To know the chords of love we've woven
Can never ever tear apart
'Cos the ties that bind these friendships
Live forever in our heart.

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