THE NIGHT OUR HOUSE CAUGHT FIRE

I’d got home a bit late on that Sunday night

Dad was in bed, but he’d left on the light

So I lit a last cig, relaxed in the chair

And a few minutes later I fell asleep there

I remember awaking sometime around four

So I left the front room and fastened the door

And once in bed I was soon sleeping - and yet

This would be a night I will never forget

Whilst I lay sleeping, my Dad had been roused

By a noise from downstairs, a crackling sound

He ran downstairs and was faced with the sight

Of the whole of the living room fiercely alight

He stood there in shock by the living room door

And through it black smoke had started to pour

The smoke was beginning to fill all the rooms

Polluting the house with its poisonous fumes

By this time my Dad was outside in the street

Shouting upstairs through the smoke and the heat

He was calling my name, shouting louder each time

Cos’ the stairs by now were too dangerous to climb

As I lay in deep sleep, someone shouted my name

Then I heard it again, and again and again

The voice sounded muffled, as though in a haze

I opened my eyes, but was still in a daze

I sat up bewildered, then started to choke

For my room was engulfed in thick black smoke

I sat on the bed, coughing and wheezing

And the smoke was so dense I could not see a thing

I rushed to the window to get some fresh air

But after trying the handle, was deep in despair

The window was stuck, it just wouldn’t budge

Though I banged it, pulled it, pushed it and tugged

Then panic set in, I was trapped in my room

And at that point I didn’t know which way to turn

I was stumbling around trying to get to the door

But was so overcome I collapsed on the floor

The taste of the smoke was making me sick

It was burning my eyes, it was so black and thick

My head was spinning, my stomach was churning

And the fire had spread, the kitchen was burning

It was then I instinctively picked up a chair

And threw it as hard as I could through the air

It crashed through the window, releasing the room

From some of the smoke, the heat and the fumes

I got to the window still breathless and scared

My body was shaking, my thoughts were impaired

I just couldn’t think straight, my mind had gone numb

But I knew, to the smoke, I mustn’t succumb

Through the now shattered window I gulped in the air

I was gasping for life and rigid with fear

And then it returned, that choking sensation

It was so hard to breathe it defied explanation

I was wondering how I could gain my release

From this terrible nightmare, all in one piece

There was no one to help, I was all on my own

I had never before felt so lost and alone

I turned from the window with much reservation

But the time now had come for self preservation

My mind had cleared, I had more understanding

So I took a deep breath and made for the landing

At the top of the staircase I shuddered with fright

For the stairs at the bottom were now well alight

I was once again filled with fear and concern

If I got down the stairs, would I get badly burned?

But there was little time left to stand and to stall

If I didn’t go now I’d have no chance at all

I closed my eyes tight, said a few prayers

And ran through the flames that were licking the stairs

In the blink of an eye I was out on the street

Away from the fumes, the smoke and the heat

Away from the fear I had felt deep within

And away from the danger my life had been in

Then Dad and I stood in the roadway and gazed

At our Mellor street home as it merrily blazed

We watched as the windows exploded with heat

Throwing splinters of glass all over the street

The whole house was gutted, burned to a shell

And all our possessions had gone up as well

All I had left were the clothes on my back

A pair of burnt socks and a scorched pair of slacks

They never discovered the cause of the fire

But suggested an electrical fault in a wire

They may well have been right of course...and yet

It just might have been... that last cigarette!

                                            David Siddall, 1995

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