My brother was taken from us on the 23rd of October 1989, aged 34, he was a very loving person with a heart of gold, during our younger years I remember him being teased a lot at school by a couple of bullies. Some kids can be so cruel, I could never understand why they gave him so much grieve? He was extremely liked by his peers and teachers maybe that was the reason? He was extremely Artistic, Creative, Imaginative, Attentive and well behaved, something that our parents instilled in all of us!!!! Just an easy going kid and I suppose the type of kid that every teacher yearns for.
What I fondly remember as a child is how he use to entertain us all with his uncanny ability to make up poetry or rhymes in an instant. We came from a large family he was number 6. I remember a pantomime at school where they did Snow White and the seven dwarfs well you know who took the part as Dopey? He had everyone in stitches.
His talents expanded in various areas, he had a natural ability to make people laugh, as well as the gift of writing short stories and as I mentioned previously, poetry.
I always envisioned that when he got older he'd end up in the Entertainment Industry either as a Play writer, Actor or even Director. Unfortunately it wasn't to be. As I was going through some files recently I came across quite a few poems he wrote baring in mind he was between the ages of 8-15 years quite deep and very moving from someone so young
Reading them again has made me realise how we have NOT learnt from the horrors of years gone by. We still insist on making the same mistakes again and again.
For what will it take to finally learn the lessons that we ALL need to learn for us to move forward as a caring, compassionate, empathic society? What he wrote back then still rings true to this day.
In loving memory of my brother Andrew who always looked out for his younger sister. Forever in my heart never to be forgotten
Life is a wild beast
You can fight it
Beat it
And take what you want from it
Or you can tame it-
And share!
Live life fully
Overpower your fear and hate
Value your principles
Enjoy peace.
LOVE
My head is hung low in despair, my heart is filled with hate.
I wonder if I was born too soon, or if I was born too late?
How can I live in this world, so bloody and torn
Is there some purpose for all this?
Is this a phase we must go through, before we are reborn
and to feel a comforting kiss?
Man is in a darkened world, blinded from the sun.
O, I pray for the day we can stand so tall and live together as one.
We all remember the Vietnam War, on the front page of the Advertiser the local paper where we lived, they had this photo of this poor tiny naked child burned running from an explosion that destroyed her Village, this is a poem that my brother wrote. He would of been around 14-15 years of age at the time.
It's Called
INNOCENT VICTIM
The child stood there in tattered clothes, crying for her mother
She wore the face of fear and was soaked in the blood of her brother
OH true soldiers, where are thee?
Shining so brave and bold
Here stands your enemy
Only three years old
Here she stands all alone, now shoot her with your gun.
Condemn her right to live, like you did to her father's son
Her chances at life are grim
She was born to a certain race
And that was her only sin.
Oh true soldiers, where are thee?
Shining so brave and bold
here stands your enemy
only three years old
My heart is in such pain
For I gave to God my soul for all
Yet he lets such EVIL reign
And such innocence fall.
But now the child lies so still
Her body twisted and bent
Oh why does man have to kill
Those so innocent??
Oh true soldiers, where are thee?
Shining so brave and bold
Here lies your enemy
She is only three years old.
by A Smythe all copyrights reserved 2013
Who would of thought 26 years later these poems would still be so relevant today, there's not a day that goes by where you turn on the TV and still see the horrors of war, it is indeed a MAD world that we live in, tomorrow I"ll upload some more reflective poems
In love and light always
Betty Blue
