Shane MacGowan's wife has promised the late singer will "live in [her] heart forever".
The Pogues frontman died at the age of 65 on Thursday (30.11.23) and Victoria Mary Clarke - who he married in 2018 after 11 years together - feels "blessed beyond words" to have had him in her life for so long.
She wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of Shane: "I don’t know how to say this so I am just going to say it. Shane who will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love [heart emoji] of my life and the most beautiful soul and beautiful angel and the sun and the moon and the start and end of everything that I hold dear has gone to be with Jesus and Mary and his beautiful mother Therese.
"I am blessed beyond words to have met him and to have loved him and to have been so endlessly and unconditionally loved by him and to have had so many years of life and love [eart emoji] and joy and fun and laughter and so many adventures.
"There’s no way to describe the loss that I am feeling and the longing for just one more of his smiles that lit up my world.
"Thank you thank you thank you thank you for your presence in this world you made it so very bright and you gave so much joy to so many people with your heart and soul and your music. You will live in my heart forever.
"Rave on in the garden all wet with rain that you loved so much [seven heart emojis] You meant the world to me (sic)"
Meanwhile, Shane's Pogues bandmate, Peter 'Spider' Stacey has paid a sad farewell to his "captain".
Sharing an image of the 'Dirty Old Town' singer on stage, he wrote on X: “‘O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done..’”
And Irish premier Leo Varadkar praised Shane for having "beautifully captured the Irish experience" in his songs.
He posted: "Sorry to hear that Shane McGowan has passed. He was an amazing musician and artist. His songs beautifully captured the Irish experience, especially the experience of being Irish abroad."
