Old Joes Ashes

Somewhere in Queensland there lies Old Joe,
A wonderful man reduced to ashes,
And none may understand,
The heart, how it tumbles and crashes.

Calamity and chaos, a man half lived,
And endless life in my book,
The soul of the man must recoil,
Of the chances he never took.

But old man nature has it’s way,
Sometimes fast, sometimes slow,
Lapping the limits of life and death,
And the calling in of dear Old Joe.

For the strength of the man sings within,
A dead man in a wall,
A shocking and plain way to pass,
Burnt, without my permission I recall.

Brothers two, Charles and Paul,
Can they take no part,
Only dead men smiles’ can win,
In my sadly ruptured heart.