The sound of loss is deafening in its silence ... RIP

We listened to the sound of loss this week. A loerie, part of a pair who visit our garden, keened for its mate on Wednesday morning. It flew from tree to tree, stopping, searching, calling for its partner. It got no reply. It became frantic, the search more desperate. It kept returning to one particular tree and looked down at the ground.

I walked to the spot it was staring at and found its mate, its neck broken, its small, grey body stiff. We had heard a racket earlier in the morning, in the wee hours, of frenzied, frightened and angry birds. We think the two loeries were attacked, possibly by the crows that have invaded the Parks in Joburg. I picked up the loerie’s mate and took it away. The loerie’s calls followed me inside the house. My wife told me loeries mate for life.

The loerie stayed there for most of the morning, looking, hoping and missing. It left in the afternoon. It has not returned.

On Wednesday two more giants of sport left us and will not be back.

Steve Smith, the Canadian downhill mountain bike star, died from injuries sustained from a motorbike accident. He was just 26, a former World Cup winner and a man of whom Greg Minnaar said: “That infectious laughter and grin will never be forgotten. Rest in peace, brother.”

When I first head Tony Cozier commentate, I thought he was black. Many did. He had that Bajan lilt to his voice, an accent I heard increase in thickness and slang when he spoke to a fellow West Indian. His was a voice that matched the strides of the West Indies as they rose up and sighed as they slipped away. He was the best radio commentator I have ever listened to. He was considered and aware, and he cared deeply about the West Indies and cricket.

We spoke occasionally when he toured South Africa. In 2003/2004, the West Indies were a ragged bunch. Dr Jack drew a poster for the Pretoria News with the legend, ‘Collapso Cricket’, on it. I was scathing of them, writing of how, at lunch time on day two of the SuperSport Park Test, the organisers had a fancy dress competition for the fans. I suggested the West Indies should enter for they were in fancy dress as Test cricketers and had shown little gumption for the fight. Tony sought me out in the press box: “I read what you wrote. Thank you for this. It will be communicated home. This is how far we have fallen.” I preened for the rest of the day and the series.

Tony Cozier died on Wednesday, a life well filled. I read the loerie was renamed the ‘Grey Go Away’ bird after the sound of its call. It was the sound of loss on Wednesday. - The Star