Was the five bob body on the beach the start
For Tommy Oliver? He won the hand
Hands down, cards played and laid there on the sand,
Scooping his earthly reward. Cullercoats
Born, dad a captain, so inevitably
Tommy, as young man, removed to Hauxley,
Faced down the North Sea and took to the boats.
But when it was too wild for the fishing
With rain reigning and gale-forced waves lashing
Tormented cobles, Tommy it was then
Who showed himself first amongst drinking men.
He rode wild horses foaming pints of ale
Through every inn and pub in High Hauxley,
Troublesome as a cabbage in a chimney:
Tommy first and Tommy last was the tale
Until the deep, deep spear thrust of illness
Balanced his life on the tip. His distress
At discovering mortality was
Palpable, being possessed by fear because
He had drunk away the hours of his life
By the glassful. To repent, to right this wrong
Tommy summoned the reverend Armstrong
To his mortal bed. A mere withered leaf
In autumn he was and winter pressing,
But, with a simple prayer and a blessing
He’d give himself up to the ebbing tide.
Cofie’s spear though, the spear in his side,
Lanced death, and Armstrong drew him from the edge
Of the gaming table and public bar
And the willing girls who went far too far,
Into a new life of chapel and pledge.
Tommy forswore the sea for horse and cart
And as monger of fish and faith he’d start
With a hymn then sing his wares: “Fish maybe
A penny or two, but salvation’s free.”
From fishing village to pit row he went
In blue reefer, jersey and clerical hat,
Everywhere people pointed and said, “That
Is Tommy Oliver whom God has sent.”
With Wesleyans and Sally Ann’s he’d preach
Praying it was never too late to reach
Those who had fallen and those on the slide
From Amble northwards and south to Tyneside.
After three score years passed and ten and one,
Preaching in Benwell a whole weekend long,
He slipped away during a sacred song:
How folk mourned for Tommy Oliver gone.
Bourn back to Amble in sound of the sea
Where once he’d grasped the spear of destiny
As Cofie had done, leaving Woden slain,
Tommy Oliver had done so again.
Dave
Alton
