In memory of Jon Hazlewood, whose untimely death has shocked and upset us all.
Composed on Musselwick Sands, Sunday 26th March 2023
Astonishing Jon is how I will remember him;
How, surely, we will all recall him
Because astonish us he truly did…
First, by taking to sea swimming –
Seriously, not just in for a gasping half-wade and out again
But five, ten, fifteen minutes, maybe more.
And, after starting over summer,
All through autumn, on past the shortest day,
Never stopping over the tough months:
He forged an all-the-year enthusiasm.
So often I met him on the Musselwick path
Wearing that cape and carrying his other kit, to hear
‘I think I love this beach the best of all, anywhere ever!’
The second way he astonished us
Was when he came to an evening music session in the chapel
Having told me that afternoon,
‘I could do a recitation, I suppose, if people didn’t mind.’
We having no idea what to expect,
He knocked us flat that night
With Shakespeare’s Richard the Third, then onto Dylan Thomas.
And so, when we were planning that Ukraine concert –
Yes, he would take part, though never on the stage before…
And, come the performance, you’d never have known
For so confidently did he uncork for us
Those vintage scenes from Under Milk Wood.
But now, Jon, you have astonished us again
By suddenly, and so wrongly, leaving this world’s stage –
After, we have no doubt, fighting so hard
Against that cruel command to exit.
So wherever you are now, dear and much-missed friend,
May you have your surf-romped beach
There waiting whenever you wish to swim;
And, each time you tread those boards up there,
An audience as attentive and appreciative
As we always, always were.
CJ
