A POEM written by a kind-hearted man ‘who would help anyone’ was only found after he died.
Richard Hewitt, 83, penned the verses unknown to his family in Goostrey, who discovered his talent for creative writing as they were selecting images for a tribute.
The poem, entitled ‘Waking Sleep’, captured his deep love of nature and the outdoors and provided a moving end to a celebration of his life.
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Family and friends gathered for his funeral at Birches Crematorium in Lach Dennis.
The retired quantity surveyor leaves wife Sylvia, son Andrew, daughter Jane Burgess and five grandchildren.
Passionate about DIY and invention, he devised many new ways of doing work, including a lettuce planting machine and a battery-operated lighting system for a villa without electricity in Portugal, well ahead of today's solar technology.
Now, it transpires he also had literary aspirations and inherited the talent of a wordsmith from his dad, Arthur, who contributed many articles to pre-war magazines on outdoor life and hill walking, another of Richard's passions.
Sylvia said: “Richard could turn his hand to so many practical things and hand an encyclopaedic knowledge of wild plants and birds.
“But in all the years I’d never seen him writing poetry, so it was such a pleasant surprise when we came across this poem.”
‘Waking Sleep’ by Richard Hewitt
I often wander in my dreams, crossing heather-covered hills
And down banks of babbling streams
The sun always manages to shine and in the distance the sound of a church bell as it chimes
You, of course, are always there, nature's beauty we jointly share.
In our wanderings oft we stop and rest a while, by a burn, or sit on a stile
The songs of the birds, filter down from the bough and help erase the crease from the furrowed brow
A field filled with golden corn, swaying in the breeze
Oh, how it makes me feel so very much at ease
No distraction to tempt me wrong, just warm, warm days - ages long
Of happier times I am unable to recall, how I hope from these heights never fall
A smile appears on your face, now at last, I know I have found a pleasant place.
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