Peter It's just not fair You had no chance An innocent man-child Whom we thought not much of Until it was too late We can't even give you A proper send-off In case the press crowd us in They won't let us grieve in peace Society didn't give a damn for you When you were living 'Cause if they did The fire wouldn't have taken you Disabled in a world of your own You didn't understand danger Ignorant bliss cost your life But what life did you have In appalling conditions We give more to our prisoners Who intentionally main, harm and kill The sentence we gave you Was far worse than any criminal Yet you are the most innocent Peter, this is goodbye My joy for you Does not outweigh the sorrow for me Grief if selfish It's only for those left behind You have no pain now No matter how you died You are now a full person Filled with love and happiness Sharing eternity with Jesus Christ ~ Hey Pete, Give a kiss to mum for me Our love for you both is endless Like the guilt we now carry We have to live with that disability. � Elizabeth 11th April, 1996 "I wrote this poem about my brother Peter, who died tragically in the Kew Cottages (Melbourne, Australia) fire in 1996. It was a home for men with disabilities who could not be cared for at home. Peter had Down's Syndrome, and in this poem I am speaking out in anger that society never cared about him or the others when they were alive, but were only interested in them (and their "story") when they were dead. I also touch on the guilt that I felt as his sister who didn't visit or pay too much attention to him. I was also one of those who didn't notice him until he was dead, and that is something that I will live with for the rest of my life. RIP Peter."