TO EACH HIS OWN

 It's amazing how a remark in passing can trigger a totally different memory!

The old man was playing golf with two friends. In front of them was a foursome. After four holes, two of the foursome called it quits while the other two continued. After one hole, they cut short to the 8th hole and finding the tee occupied, moved somewhere else out of sight of the old man's threesome. Confused by this odd behaviour, one of the threesome remarked, "To each his own."

That was enough to take the old man 70 years back in time. In the early 1950s, there used to be a programme on Radio Ceylon which played numbers requested by its listeners usually dedicated to a near and dear one on a birthday, anniversary or just to express love. The signature tune for the programme was a 1946 hit, "To Each His Own", sung by a group called The Ink Spots. That song itself was good enough to be heard again and again as a sheer poem of delightfully lovely verses. It was short and sweet, so here it is in full:

'A rose must remain with the sun and the rain

Or its lovely promise won't come true,

To each his own, to each his own

And my own is you.

What good is a song if the words don't belong

And a dream must be a dream for two.

No good alone, to each his own

For me there's you.

If a flame is to grow there must be a glow,

To open each door there's a key

I need you I know, I can't let you go

Your touch means too much to me.

Two lips must insist on two more to be kissed

Or they'll never know what love can do.

To each his own, I've found my own

One and only you.'