Front Cover
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Terry Johns
Sparrows and Bells
Eugene Ramirez (Terry Johns), (2024)
ISBN 978-1-4751-6301-8
This booklet of twenty-three poems was published in 2024, not long before Terry died in February 2025. He had previously
published two non-fiction works, in 2012 and 2019, each of an autobiographical nature detailing his long career as a
professional musician.
What marks this booklet out is the author pseudonym, Eugene Ramirez, under which the book was published. Terry concocted
purely fictional biographical details about Eugene Ramirez, possibly drawing on his familiarity with Spanish names having lived
in Spain during his retirement. However, there is one common feature in the lives of the two men in that both Terry and Ramirez
were members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Additionally, Terry’s maternal grandfather, Andrew Curran, came from
Ireland as did Ramirez.
The title of the anthology, Sparrows and Bells, is the name of the fifth poem in the booklet.
The real author of the poems was revealed during the eulogy at Terry’s funeral, and the celebrant read one of the
poems which was written for Terry’s wife Karin. The poem is reproduced with permission below.
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Rear Cover
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As Lovers Do
We will embrace once more — as lovers do,
when the heart’s arousing brings its gift;
When the runaway child appears anew.
When we have laughed and loved the long night through
and waited there in the rising, morning mist
We will embrace once more — as lovers do.
Lovers, warriors battle to be true
When carried away on the sea that drifts where
The runaway child appears anew
These nights of joy are all too few
When you are me and I am you but
We will embrace once more as Lovers do.
Some cannot see the journey through
Til the aching stops, the burden lifts and
The runaway child appears anew
They’ll not recall as others do
Through the sands of time that swirl and shift but
We will embrace — as lovers do when
The runaway child appears anew.
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