Syd Barrett 6 January 1946 - 7 July 2006

Fare thee well you crazy diamond,

The lone piper at the gates of dawn,

An Icarus, a Phoenix, a Painter and

A Poet. Turned away by the mystics,

For too much ‘emotional behaviour’.

You followed nobody’s lead.

Traced the life of the underwear thief,

Arnold Layne. Saw Emily play.

Cut your teeth on mescaline.

Lived another day.  'Fame'

Provoked a sarcastic sneer.

For this alone the Madcap Laughs.

Throwing your money away you made hay

While the sun shone.

Lived, so sadly, in a distant place,

A broken down place, a place called home.

Once-upon-a-time,  in your 1960s hey-day

Before yet another visit to the Institution

You burnt your canvases

Photographed the ashes.

Time in your beautiful, fractured mind never quite

Chimed and, anyway, your music was sublime.