Oh, woeful day on which a brilliant man
Of mighty wit departed from this world!
For many years he has lit up our lives
With seven volumes of hilarity
Through which the whole of general mish-mash
Was his, and ours, to know, laugh at, and see.
With him we went to planets far away
Where cool and froody things were going on;
And a hitchhiker and his Earthling friend
Survived the poetry of a Vogon.
They were cast into space, but did survive
Because a nearby spaceship took them in;
Then with the President and his girlfriend
Their zany misadventures did begin.
Oh, happy times were they, of love and hate
And factors of improbability,
And meeting the main dish at Milliways,
And space/time travel to infinity,
And Babel fish who translate speech for you,
And spaceships that are shaped like running shoes,
And hurrying to save the Universe
By gathering the Wikkit Gate's five parts
(The parts included gloomy Marvin's leg
As well as Zaphod's starship's golden heart),
And wondering where all the dolphins went,
And knowing it was all because of mice,
And awkward meetings with a teenage girl
And finding that she isn't very nice,
And carrying the great Hitchhiker's Guide
And letting it advise and counsel you,
And holding out an Electronic Thumb,
And of course, "Don't Panic" and "Forty-two."
But no, the legacy does not end there;
Dirk Gently's world was Doug's creation too.
Electric Monks and time-travel are there
And ancient gods, and ghosts, and Coke machines,
And horses in the bathroom, and a song
Called "Hot Potato," and a missing cat.
So many things to make you laugh aloud,
And now he who created them is gone
And his creations mourn and weep for him.
See how the distant stars have all grown dim,
The show at Milliways has lost its spark,
The hitchhikers have stopped adventuring,
And all the universe is growing dark.
The fans are saddened too. Long have they known
That this would happen at some point in time,
And now he's gone, but we will not forget;
We'll miss him, but his legacy will live
In us. We'll write fanfic about his works
And try to write what he would like to see,
And read the books whene'er we need a smile,
And ever his adoring fans we'll be.
If you write something, and it's widely read,
It will still be there even when you're gone;
Yes, though he is departed from this place,
We'll not forget; we'll always look to space.
Disclaimer: All this stuff belongs to the late Douglas Adams.
No money is being made and no copyright infringement is intended.
