The time you won your town the race…
we cheered you
through the marketplace.
Man and boy stood cheering by…
as home we brought you,
shoulder high.
Smart lad,
to slip betimes away…
from fields where glory
does not stay.
Early though
the laurel grows…
it withers quicker than a rose.
Now you will not swell the rout…
of lads that wore their honors out.
Runners whom renown outran…
and the name died…
before the man.
And round that early laureled head…
will flock to gaze
the strengthless dead…
and find unwithered on its curls…
a garland…
briefer than a girl’s.”
Now take back the soul
of Denys George Finch Hatton…
whom You have shared with us.
He brought us joy…
and we loved him well.
He was not ours.
He was not mine.
“In memory of Wayne Bennett” Tragically lost to us on May 11, 2010.