David Elkins 1957 - 2014

It is with great sadness that I have to tell you that our dear David lost his fight earlier today and is now at peace.
Many of you will know him from the Chains forum which he made his own.
David had a severe form of Multiple Sclerosis which at times caused depression but he struggled on and often injected humour into his situation. Then cruelly he developed cancer. He would take the ghastly treatments and as soon as he appeared to be beating it then a tumour would develop somewhere else. Then finally last week it was C. Diff and pneumonia in both lungs which was to beat him.
We will always remember this incredible man, an inspiration to us all, when all seems to be hopeless, keep on going and come through it.
Rest in peace Dave.
This is a poem written by Dave.
A grieving widow sits by the road
Holding her ankles, reviewing her dead
And wishing she'd chosen one who'd outlived her.
The memories dancing as memories do
but the ballet is madness that sings in her head.
She thinks alive but she feels as dead
as the run-down alley cat some feet away
as the lover now buried several feet down
as the dreams of a smaller girl still harshly real.
The road is a place that forgetting can happen
but the roadside's a place where the facts all congeal
where widows can sit and watch strangers go by
and where someone may stop to console her.
And a man with a shovel just scooped up the cat
Its tangible death was a nuisance to someone.
He carried his shovel and walked towards the widow.
He said 'good morning' and tipped his white hat.
And she suddenly knew of the difference.
A grieving widow who sat by the road
writhing in agony, screaming towards clouds
Still wishes she'd chosen one who'd outlived her.
The memories screaming as memories do
But the screaming is noiseless w/out listening crowds
She suddenly learns that she's still alive
as the man with the alley cat thrust in his truck
as the love of the dead ones before they had died
as the dreams of a smaller girl still harshly real.
The road is a place of forgetting in motion
but the roadside's a place where the facts all conceal
that widows can sit and watch living speed by.
and where no one has time to console them.
David Elkins
July 22, 1957 to June 18, 2014