{"id":15964,"date":"2018-08-17T15:01:50","date_gmt":"2018-08-17T14:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=15964"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:58:17","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:58:17","slug":"death-of-a-piper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=15964","title":{"rendered":"Death of a Piper"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The following poem was written by John Fyvie, a Piper Alpha survivor. It was recited by Unite regional officer Tommy Campbell at this week’s Reflections on Piper Alpha conference in Aberdeen.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Come in a standby vessel,<\/p>\n

it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Alpha Sixteen.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a comfort to know<\/p>\n

that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re there on the scene.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve a desperate feeling<\/p>\n

this midsummer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s night,<\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a stillness unusual,<\/p>\n

Something\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The dayshift is sleeping,<\/p>\n

the hour is nine.<\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a valve that is missing<\/p>\n

on a high-pressure line.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The stillness is broken,<\/p>\n

what a terrible howl.<\/p>\n

Demented and rabid,<\/p>\n

like wolves on the prowl.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The gas it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s escaping,<\/p>\n

now fire teams wait.<\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a call for a muster<\/p>\n

but I fear it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too late.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An inferno is raging.<\/p>\n

God! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m standing alone.<\/p>\n

The steel it is melting<\/p>\n

like flesh from our bone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Oh! The fire it is spreading<\/p>\n

and panic is rife.<\/p>\n

A scaffolder cries out<\/p>\n

then jumps for his life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Look! Here comes the Tharos.<\/p>\n

But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing no good.<\/p>\n

Now black smoke engulfs us,<\/p>\n

like a hanging man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hood.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s men going crazy<\/p>\n

and screaming in pain.<\/p>\n

The sound of the dying,<\/p>\n

it drives me insane.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Up on the derrick<\/p>\n

a roughneck, in vain,<\/p>\n

screams for his mother<\/p>\n

to come ease the pain.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Another explosion.<\/p>\n

God! That makes it three.<\/p>\n

The quarters we lived in<\/p>\n

now slide in the sea.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Inside, men are weeping,<\/p>\n

not really in fear.<\/p>\n

The thoughts that torment them<\/p>\n

are of folk they hold dear.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For never to see them<\/p>\n

saddens their heart.<\/p>\n

For the death and oblivion<\/p>\n

will keep them apart.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And now, Occidental<\/p>\n

your debt you must pay.<\/p>\n

For the death and the sorrow<\/p>\n

you caused on that day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

God! I hate all those bastards<\/p>\n

who don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t give a damn.<\/p>\n

Oil bosses and Thatcher<\/p>\n

we know you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a sham.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A word of condolence<\/p>\n

then you leave us to grieve,<\/p>\n

while you sit in your penthouse<\/p>\n

and laugh up your sleeve.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, remember the Piper<\/p>\n

you, who are to blame,<\/p>\n

when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re sent to the Devil<\/p>\n

to burn in his flame.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To the lads of the Piper,<\/p>\n

you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve not died in vain.<\/p>\n

We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll remember you always<\/p>\n

and inherit your pain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following poem was written by John Fyvie, a Piper Alpha survivor. It was recited by Unite regional officer Tommy Campbell at this week’s Reflections on Piper Alpha conference in Aberdeen.   Come in a standby vessel, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Alpha Sixteen. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a comfort to know that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re there on the scene.   I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve a desperate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3692,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[543,576],"wps_subtitle":"Piper Alpha survivor John Fyvie's reflections on the disaster that killed 167 people","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15964"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15964"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25958,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15964\/revisions\/25958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}