You may be a hero.

Always a "good morning",

Always a gentle smile,

And we never thought we'd say goodbye

Or that we'd miss you so

Until you were gone.

The cries for "ambulance" shattered

The deafening noise of a workshop,

For the first time since the annoying bell had

Signalled the beginning of a new day

The machines were silent.

Teary-eyed young men ran through

Their boot steps hollow on the concrete floor,

One pausing to tell the gathered group what happened

And forty young souls paused,

The workshop was dead.

Broken, you lay on the tarmac outside

I could not find the courage to look at you

I preferred to think of you as you had been that morning.

I have never been religious but

I begged higher powers for your life.

My prayers were never answered

You died before you reached hospital.

You had tried to stop a lone thief from taking a laptop

The merciless bastard murdered you

In the coldest of blood.

You are a hero and a great man.

You gave your life for your principles.

But on the eve of your funeral

The tears prick at my eyelids

And I bite them back.

I'm sure all who knew you would agree

It wasn't worth the cost

The price you paid was too great

 You may be a hero Charlie

But we'd rather you were here today.

Dedicated to Charles "Charlie" Tandy, who gave his life while attempting to stop a theft. He was murdered last year at a training centre in Birmingham (UK) and his funeral is tomorrow.

The car hit him and dragged him along beneath it. He suffered serious head trauma. For forty minutes almost all of us were outside while our first aiders tried to help him. He was going to be an instructor and assessor when he'd finished his training.

Our trainee instructor was pronounced dead on his arrival at hospital. He died, trying to protect another man's property. I wanted to say goodbye in the way I knew best.

Thanks Charlie.

Nikki.