HomeHillsboroughNinety Six Souls - A Survivor's Story

Ninety Six Souls – A Survivor’s Story

Six minutes past three on that tragic day.
The pain and the trauma won’t go away.
Crushed as I was in that terrible pen.
Dead bodies around me; one as young as ten.

I was big and strong, so I scrapped and fought
To save my own life; well that’s what I thought.
Because inside I’m dead and it cuts like a knife
That ninety-six died and I have a life.

I did what I had to; I had three kids you see.
I couldn’t die; it couldn’t be me.
If I had died that day I never would have seen
My Ma’s last seven years: My dear old queen.

Ninety-six souls haunt my dreams.
The nightmares won’t stop; that’s what it seems
I wake up sweating and shivering and shouting out loud
“There’s ninety-six dead in that bloody crowd!”

I feel anger, I feel hatred, I feel guilt, I feel shame.
Ninety-six souls tell me I’m not to blame.
So why do I wake up screaming and crying
Seeing the faces of young people dying?

Ninety-six souls come to meet me each night
Taking me back to that terrible sight
“They’re to blame: Duckenfield and Murray
We’ll get justice one day. We’re in no hurry.”

I could have died that day: I know that’s a fact.
With the ninety-six souls I’ve made a pact
“When my days are up and my judgement awaits
I’ll meet you all in heaven at the Bill Shankly Gates.”

Peter Etherington

Read more articles about the Hillsborough disaster

LATEST

Join us on Mastodon