For Absent Friends

	Written：Banks/Collins/Gabriel/Hackett/Rutherford
	Sunday at six when they close both the gates
	a widowed pair,
	still sitting there,
	Wonder if they're late for church
	and it's cold, so they fasten their coats
	and cross the grass, they're always last.
	Passing by the padlocked swings,
	the roundabout still turning,
	ahead they see a small girl
	on her way home with a pram.
	Inside the archway,
	the priest greets them with a courteous nod.
	He's close to God.
	Looking back at days of four instead of two.
	Years seem so few (four instead of two).
	Heads bent in prayer
	for friends not there.
	Leaving twopence on the plate,
	they hurry down the path and through the gate
	and wait to board the bus
	that ambles down the street.

	Written: Banks Collins Gabriel Hackett Rutherford
	Sunday at six when they close both the gates
	a widowed pair,
	still sitting there,
	Wonder if they' re late for church
	and it' s cold, so they fasten their coats
	and cross the grass, they' re always last.
	Passing by the padlocked swings,
	the roundabout still turning,
	ahead they see a small girl
	on her way home with a pram.
	Inside the archway,
	the priest greets them with a courteous nod.
	He' s close to God.
	Looking back at days of four instead of two.
	Years seem so few four instead of two.
	Heads bent in prayer
	for friends not there.
	Leaving twopence on the plate,
	they hurry down the path and through the gate
	and wait to board the bus
	that ambles down the street.