The Grenfell Disaster (Based On Eyewitness Accounts)

Most tenants left the flats with just their lives But other lives were left back in the flames People were framed at the windows Banging, banging, shouting, shouting helpless Ten storeys up the victims knotted bedsheets A child on fire jumped from the 20th floor A woman dropped her baby from the 9th I shouted ‘Everyone has dialled for help. It's coming.' The look on each face was Death The kids had high-pitched voices, they were screaming I'll never block that noise out from my mind The stairs were choked with smoke The lights were flickering. Dark and scary. Terrified old and young Disabled struggling down the smoke-filled stairwell Stepping over bodies, luggage, flame Polystyrene falling down like snow The stench of burning plastic, sizzling flesh Cladding, like wrapping a person in cotton wool Had tossed them helpless onto an inferno Firemen walked towards the torch of tenants Under riot shields to protect from debris Everywhere the noise of sirens screaming The flash of torches, suddenly gone black Sieves can go straight down to 6mm Can pick up small fragments of bone and teeth Painstaking job And then the aftermath, shock, grief, and anger The months to come, to mourn neighbours and friends The months to come to pose the question Why?