Lest we Forget Part 2

The following poem was sent to me by a fellow Kootenay survivor, Burt Tiffin.  Burt was a hero of the Kootenay disaster being eventually credited with saving the lives of eight men by rescuing them from the main cafeteria which was full of thick, acrid smoke. But he never got proper recognition for that deed.  Burt and I got to know each other during the writing of my book, “We are as One”.  We continued to correspond for the next couple of years until he passed away in early 2012.  He told me of the cruel fate that had been assessed him when he was forced out of the Armed Forces in 1974, five months short of being eligible for a military pension. Sounds familiar based on recent headlines.  Burt died still fighting with Veterans Affairs for adequate treatment.  So here’s to the memory of Burt Tiffin – sailor, hero, poet.

Final Quest

I hope there’s a place way up in the sky

Where sailors can pass when their end is nigh

A melancholy place where they’d lend an ear

For a friend or comrade whose memory is clear

A place where no doctor or lawyer could tread

Nor a management type would e’er be caught dead!

Just a quaint little place, kind of dark, full of smoke,

Where folk love to sing loud, and enjoy a rowdy joke.

 

There must be a place where old sailors go,

When their legs feel unsteady, and their gait kinda slow,

Where the liquor is old, and the women are young,

And songs about sailing and dying are sung.

Where you’d see all the mates you’d sailed with before,

And they’d call out your name, as you pass through the door

Who would buy you a drink if your thirst was bad,

And relate to others, “He was a good lad.”

 

Through the mist and din, you’d spot an old guy

You had not seen in years and thought he had died.

He’d nod his old head and grin ear to ear

And say, “Welcome my son.  I’m proud that you’re here!

For this is the place where true sailors come

When the battles are over and the war is all done.

They’ve come at last to be safe and alone,

From the government clerk and management clone,

Politicians and lawyers, the Feds, and the noise,

Where all hours are happy and these good ol’ boys

Can relax with a cool one and a well-deserved rest,

This is Heaven my son, ‘Your Final Quest.’”

 

Adaptation by Burt Tiffin, 27 September, 2010