It was painful birth
That brought Tommy into this earth
7.30am Monday, November, Hammersmith
A rare blue sky on November 6th
Another birth at queen Charlotte's baby ward
No one cared for what the future stored
Born a healthy 9lb boy
Proud parents filled with joy
A real photo moment with mother and son
Tommy Johnson 6/11/1971
Mrs Johnson stayed at home with baby Tommy
While Mr Johnson went back to work, on his long distance lorry
Tommy was well cared
A task which both parents shared
Playgroup went and first arrived
But it was around this time that Mr Johnson died
School continued into middle school days
Their was a sadness in Tommy's gaze
Tommy's reports were always good
Mrs Johnson did the best she could
Tommy soon joined the local football team
It was something that Mr Johnson had always dreamed
Tommy liked the physical aspect of the game
He liked to see others in pain
He captained his school
Then Tommy broke another rule?
Middle school went and high school came
But Tommy didn't seem to be the same
He got into fights in the school ward
Tommy was respected for being hard
With college came a new yearning
Tommy was not interested so much in learning
He liked girls in a rough and ready way
Hard boy image, seems to pay
Tommy loved the attention
And craved for the affection
No one challenged his ideas
Even his girlfriends went home in tears
At university he spent 3 years
Got a gut from all those beers
Tommy came out of our education system
With goods grades and a new found wisdom
He was a smooth talking lad
Who had a tendency to go a little mad?
He soon found himself a job
But under the files lay a yob
He worked in Barclays bank, as a clerk
But something was boring, something dark
It started out every other weekend
But it soon became an addictive friend
Mates and crates and drugs and clubs
But it always ended in nasty punch ups
Then Monday would arrive again
And Tommy would be like normal men
But normal to Tommy was boring
His life, like football, was about scoring
Tommy was getting restless
And questioning life's effectiveness
He became depressed and more aggressive
He was losing girlfriend for being too possessive
He was becoming a bit of a nutter
And leaving his trade mark in the gutter
It was only a matter of time
Before he would get caught for his crime
It wasn't that Tommy was bad
More a built up loss for his dad
He loved his dad, but that love had come out in violence
He could cope with loss, but with alcoholic guidance
The pain of loss in crested his very soul
Even his tears were alcohol
His friends distanced themselves
Fed up with spending their weekends in prison cells
People blamed a trouble past
Tommy rubbished these theories and laughed
Tommy was sinking
He was going mad with thinking
Voices of the past and present
Were making Tommy's life most unpleasant
Then one night about two weeks ago
It was November the streets were lined with snow
Tommy went to town
Wearing his designer clothes and designer frown
He went for a drink in all bar one
And soon it would end, where it once begun
He was chatting up some girl in leather boots
With dyed blonde hair and black roots
He was looking over at some boys in suits
Tommy made some sly remarks
About dirty little loan sharks
One of the suits thought he act the hard man
And threw over in Tommy's direction, a beer can
Tommy lost it, and went steaming in
And gave this suit a will royal kicking
Then the suit's mates dragged Tommy outside
And Tommy felt a warm chill in his side
Tommy went down
There was blood on Tommy's designer frown
As Tommy's eyes blurred, he saw the knife
And as easily as it started, he lost his life
A young boy, his first fight
Who now rots in prison for murdering Tommy's night?