Grief-hung, the pumps roll by,
Bearing the coffins high,
That all may see and sigh
In the vicinity;
Men who with death long toyed
Now in the code employed
Pass as "some clothes destroyed"
Into infinity.
In childhood well I knew
White Watch and Red and Blue,
High Cross and C-2-U
And Holtwhites-Trinity,
So, seeing black on red,
I hail the passing dead,
Pray their souls safely sped
To kind divinity!
Men trained all fear to flout,
Prose heroes who turn out
To every frantic "shout"
From the vicinity;
Banal though it may be,
Lift jammed, or cat in tree,
Boy's head from rails to free -
Tasks in infinity!
Or battling smoke and flame
At sites whose ringing fame
A faithfulness proclaim
Touched by divinity:
Silvertown, Tooley Street,
Kings Cross, Saint-Bride's-by-Fleet,
Wildfire and fume and heat
Met in dread trinity.
And I've a dream profound:
When the dread trumpets sound,
And God's last bells go down
For Sol's vicinity,
Though Earth be but "bare poles",
Through the assembling souls
A Voice of thunder rolls
Fraught with divinity:
"Rise up, Eyre Massey Shaw,
Call your brigades to war,
On Hell impose the law
Of the Blest Trinity!
Ride with the Son of Man!
(Flout him no fire-fiend can!)
Michael and Florian -
Make pumps infinity!"
Note to the judge: In spite of the rather different terminology used in the UK - and the fact that the iconic fire-sites mentioned in stanza 2 were all in London, I think your father might appreciate this, as my personal tribute to all the heroes, known and unknown, of Fire Services world-wide.
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NOTE TO ALL READERS:
This may prove obscure in parts to readers who do not know the fire-service terminology prevalent during World War II - when my mother was in the National Fire Service-, based at various North London stations, including Tottenham High Cross, "C-2-U" (Muswell Hill) and Holtwhites Hill/Trinity Road (Enfield).
I do not want to give too long a glossary, but perhaps I should at least mention:
a "pump" is the basic red fire-service vehicle (what non-fireservice people would call a "fire-engine"). As the poem indicates - it is used as a hearse for fire-fighters' funerals.
"a quantity of clothing was destroyed" - the traditional official way of logging fire-fatalities.
Firefighters used to be divided into three duty "watches" - Red, White and Blue. Nowadays, owing to shorter working hours, there is a fourth "watch" - Green.
A call for assistance from the public is colloquially called a "shout" and - more formally
"the bells go down" means that a fire has been reported and the fire-station alarm bell is ringing to call the fire-fighters to their vehicles.
"bare poles" (a term transferred from the days of sailing ships - originally fire-fighters were recruited from ex-sailors) means in fire-service slang that a station is completely stripped of all appliances - everything has already been deployed, and if another "shout" comes in, there will be nothing to send.
Eyre Massey Shaw (the "Captain Shaw" mentioned in "Iolanthe") was the 19th century founder of what was then the London Fire Brigade.
St Michael the Archangel and St Florian are the patron saints of firefighters.
The call "Make pumps X" - sent by the officer-in- charge at a major fire - means "we need X pumps to deal with it" - it is a call for more!
And the call "Make pumps infinity" IS a genuine one - (though one no dispatcher ever wants to hear!)... it means send "send EVERYTHING you - and any neighbouring stations have".
Bronze trophy winner
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