Mistaken Identity Poem by David Lewis Paget

The mother lay in a stupor filled
With alcohol and drugs,
The twins lay wet in the carry-cot
And screamed at the top of their lungs,
The boyfriend of the moment sat
At a bar in a nearby town,
Drinking away the welfare cheque
And taking them further down.

Sally Pearce was a homely girl
As such, and easily led,
Many a teenage male had found
His way to her maiden bed,
They bought her favours with alcohol
And hooked her on cocaine,
They so befuddled her mind that she
Could not remember her name.

So Jack had her in the morning when
The sun was low in the sky,
While Derek had her lunch when she
Had snorted coke, and was high,
She carried the seeds of both of them
And both of them found a home,
Embedded deep in her ovaries
As she lay drugged out, alone.

So when she heard she was having twins
She didn't know who to blame,
But thought it must be the first of them
So gave the twins Jack's name,
She didn't know that their fathers were
As different as chalk and cheese,
For Jack passed on a criminal gene
While Derek passed S.T.D's.

The first one born was Timothy,
With a mop of jet black hair,
Then twenty minutes to follow on
Came Adam, so pale and fair,
They could have been Cain and Abel
If she'd only studied the book,
For Adam was such a happy child
While Tim had an evil look.

She hardly saw them growing up
They learned to fend for themselves,
They'd go and ransack the kitchen
Pulling the food right off the shelves,
The boyfriends came and the boyfriends went
In a long, continuous line,
They didn't know what a father was
Nor a mother, most of the time.

The only love that they ever knew
Was their love for the brother twin,
For they were the only constants as
The others came out and in,
While Adam took to his books and proved
A whiz at Math in his school,
Timothy fought a constant war
To tell the truth, he was cruel.

He punched the boys and tortured the girls
And dipped their plaits in the ink,
Protected Adam from bullies and fools
But never had cause to think,
Adam went on to Uni while
Timothy took to the street,
Dealing in drugs, and taking home
Enough for his mother to eat.

Adam had met a girl called Gaye
She liked that his eyes were brown,
He gave her his sophomore ring one day
Escorted her round the town,
She wanted to meet his brother, Tim
But Adam would not be drawn,
He said that his brother had gone away
‘Til he called one day, to the dorm.

Timothy's eyes had met with Gaye's
And they felt a shock of delight,
For opposites often attract, they say,
As day will follow on night,
For Gaye was ripe with an innocence
That will fall for an evil spell,
So Timothy started meeting her
In the quad, by the old stairwell.

They found her body at Easter-time
Down an old storm-water drain,
Raped and beaten, her throat was cut,
And they said, ‘He must be insane! '
Adam was taken down to the cells
And grilled for almost a day,
‘You were the girl's last boyfriend,
We'll be taking your D.N.A.'

The D.N.A. was almost a match
Enough for a guilty plea,
While Adam strongly denied the charge,
‘It certainly wasn't me! '
He didn't mention his brother's name,
But hoped he would see the day
When Timothy came to visit him,
But Timothy went away.

They came for him in the dawning light
And marched him into the shed,
His lips were trembling as he stood
And bit his lip ‘til it bled,
‘Any last words you'd like to say
Before you pay for your sin? '
The rope had tightened around his neck
When he almost whispered, ‘…'

22 November 2012