Fire Man Poem by David Lewis Paget

It was shortly after the Second War,
The rubble lay in heaps,
The bombs no longer dropped,
But where they had was bombed for keeps!
The lads ran wild in the undergrowth
That had been a stately home,
And gangs laid claim to the sacred turf
That they liked to call their own.

The gang of Harriman Somers claimed
An isolated patch,
Complete with an air raid shelter with
A concrete roof to match,
From up there, high on the roof they spied
The whole of the country wide,
To warn of approaching rival gangs
They posted guards outside.

When Raymond Kirk came wandering
On home through the bridle track,
The 'Razors' saw their chance to vent
Their anger on a 'Drak',
They seized him there, and bound him up,
And threw him on the pile
Of dry, and flammable tinder wood
They'd saved up for a while.

But there beside the shelter wall,
An unexploded bomb,
Was lying on its side, they'd claimed it,
Lying on its own.
When Harriman lit the tinder wood
And Raymond screamed in turn,
The 'Razors' laughed and taunted him,
They said: 'You're gonna burn! '

The fire spread to the shelter and
That one incendiary
Exploded, showering phosphorus
Across from fire to tree,
The 'Razors' fled in their burning clothes,
They left young Kirk to his cries,
He spent a year in the hospital
With flames behind his eyes.

At home he sat in a wheelchair with
A hundred grafts of skin,
His hands were runny like plasticene
His legs were scarred and thin,
For five long years he waited there,
He learned to walk, and then
He took to strolling on through the woods
To ease his mind of pain.

The summer of '51 was hot,
The country was in drought,
Flames were seen in the woods whenever
Kirk came wandering out,
The 'Razor' gang were now young men,
With girlfriends, some with wives,
They'd all forgotten the burning, but
That fire would rule their lives.

A car went up in a blaze one night,
A 'Razor' member's pride,
And only once they had put it out
Did they find the corpse inside.
It was Dicky Johns, (who had found the bomb) ,
They had to go by his teeth,
His fellow 'Razors' crossed themselves,
It was - 'Rather him than me! '

Then Andy Craig, his terraced house
Went up before the dawn,
The flames were seen three streets away,
They found him on the lawn.
He'd fallen out of the window, all
Ablaze, like a glowing torch,
His wife's remains, when they smashed the door
Fell out on the tiled porch.

And through the crowd, at every fire
One face was seen to glide,
For Raymond Kirk turned up to grin
At the bodies, burned inside,
And then, while he was walking home
He'd touch a hedge or brush,
And a flame would spurt from his fingertips
To ignite a burning bush.

At Harriman Somers' wedding, Kirk
Watched moodily, the bride,
He waited until they were good and drunk
Then forced his way inside,
She looked so fine in her wedding dress,
All virgin white, and lace,
He'd wait 'til Harriman turned his back
And then he'd seek her face!

He asked her to dance, so radiant,
She smiled at his crippled hands,
She wanted to be so kind to him,
Was this one of Harriman's friends?
When Somers saw who had twirled her round
To the music, he went pale!
He held his breath, but the dance of death
Would end his fairytale.

Kirk had stopped, he held the dancer's
Hands above her head,
He stood quite still, but held her 'til
Her soul was filled with dread,
But then he called out loud and clear,
'Remember? It's my turn!
You told me once, now I'm telling you,
Your bride is gonna burn! '

The bride then suddenly opened up
Her mouth, and gave a roar,
As flames burst out from her throat
And burned her dress, and singed her hair.
Then Kirk stood back as she swiftly turned
To a torch of instant flame,
While Somers screamed to his burning love,
And called out Raymond's name!

'Fire Man! The Fire Man! It's him,
Just bring him down! '
The crowd seized hold of him by his hair
And dragged him to the ground,
They threw him into the garden pool
And held his body down,
Though a flame flared under the water still
'Til Raymond Kirk had drowned.

13 July 2009