Fifteen years have passed my friend

Since you have left the stage,

And we were forced cold turkey

To endure our loss with grace,

Our late night, closing end of day

Addictions not been met,

Or satiated just one time

By all the imposters left.

That hole down deep inside our gut

Still yearns to hear your laugh,

And listen to Doc Severinsen

And Ed, your other half,

And see the cast of “Celebrates”

You chose to fill your couch,

The actor’s we grew up watching

And wondered all about.

They all were timely treasures

Great thespians of the past,

With up and coming new blood

That you knew somehow would last.

And that creative list of characters

That morphed out from you brain,

And brought us all to tears laughing

And doubled up in pain.

Your pencil tapping banter

And your jokes about Ed’s drink

And those psychedelic suits of Doc

Were all parts that made us think,

That we were part of your family

And the world even made sense,

When you put it in perspective

In that monologue that you penned.

Well, an era truly ended

On that night we dried our tears,

And laid our head upon our bed

Knowing we’d no more ever hear:

“Heeers…Johnny“, as our day wound down

And saw those curtains part,

And invited you inside our home

And opened up our heart.

You’ll live on inside our memory

As long as were alive,

Although younger generations

Know nothing of your life.

So now within this monologue

Poetic as it be,

Is just our simple way to say

We miss you “Dear Johnny”.