Thomas Joseph Harris ©

by Robbie Kennedy Bennett
(Codsall)

You must have visualised the manufacturing construction,
Advancing young man beyond toiling day introduction.

How many summers had passed since your day in school?
Secure in class at your desk on a bench or stool.

You entered into a world of earning a wage,
Nuts bolts and drawings of steelwork design on a page.

Thomas Joseph Harris,
That morn, were you looking ahead?
Or was the warmth of the shawl inviting you to laze in bed.

Thomas Joseph Harris, what could have been,
If you had lived beyond sixteen?

Did you ever conceive the Forth Bridge a legacy of your day?
I’m sorry young sir I deplore it ended that way.

Thomas Joseph Harris,
Your short life I am respecting.
Weren’t you the first that died?
Or does research of mine need correcting.

Too young to leave a widow of a wife,
Thomas Joseph Harris,

…Weren’t you the first to lose your life?

How many summers had passed since your day in school?
Secure in class at your desk on a bench or stool.

Thomas Joseph Harris, you never reached your prime.
If no bard has valued your worth, I deem it is time.





Thomas Joseph Harris
Aged 16
Storekeeper / Clerk
Forth Rail Bridge

Fell into the Forth and drowned
27th November 1883



Edited by May
Robbie has written some other fabulous poems about Fife - some of which are on this site. But do check out his own site RKB Poetry