Hi, this poem I found in Matthews room in Feb 94, 4 months before he died, he was in his room on the pc, I read it, was shocked and asked him why he had written it, he just looked up and said, "its only a poem, I might use it for school". I kept it. Four days after he died, the vicar was here talking about the service, I suddenly remembered the poem, got it and gave it to Bruce to read. He looked at me and said, "well I happen to know he was proven wrong on Thursday morning". The poem was read at the service by his best friend John. To my knowledge I can not ever remember telling Matthew that if I had a little girl I would call her Rebecca, but it was the name we had always wanted.
The first stage of man is the shortest of all,
When you are a baby and dribble and bawl.
You sleep every day, and scream every night
To wake up your parents to turn on the light.
You slowly grow up and now are a child,
A pocket sized person so gentle and mild.
You start off at school in black shoes and shirt
Its all work from now, all pain and hurt.
You continue at school for a very long time,
I`m still here now, writing this rhyme.
When you leave school you`re very mature,
Off now to college to study some more.
You work really hard with the rest of the mob,
To get a degree to get you a job.
You come out at last with new found aggression,
To hunt and to dig to find a profession.
You now get a job, it has to be manly,
To bring in some money to bring up a family.
You have a few children, called Rebecca and John,
Who go on the journey that you have just gone.
You keep at your job for most of your life,
So do your children, so does your wife.
You retire then at sixty, tired and bleak,
To live on a pension, a pittance a week.
You keep on at home and think of the mob
You stayed with in childhood to get a good job.
You think of fond memories as life comes to an end,
Of all the old fashion that were all the trend.
Its all history now, there`s nothing no more,
No light in the tunnel, a darkened closed door.
You let yourself go, and say the last call
You now are oblivion.........its the end of it all.
Matthew David Peace 1994
I still cannot read this without crying when I read the lines
You continue at school for a very long time,
I`m still here now, writing this rhyme.
and
You have a few children called Rebecca and John,
Who go on the journey that you have just gone.
We had the poem printed and sold it at his concerts and made £200 which we donated to the Evelina Fund at Guys hospital.