Yesterday was the fiftieth anniversary
Of Stephen’s death in a car crash
He was killed along with the driver of a London taxi
On the evening of the 17th September 1973
In Castle Road Ealing West London
Reports indicate that the driver lost control at high speed
Due to a mechanical failure that caused his vehicle to crash into a brick wall
Stephen died immediately of a severe head trauma
And the driver Tony Nash died later that evening
The world of poetry was shaken to the core by Stephen’s untimely death
He had only just turned nineteen and in his short life had published two books
The Chrysalis Amongst the Waves in 1971 and Perfect Form in 1973
Both books were well received and Stephen was predicted to have a bright future
A posthumous collection of poems Festival was published in 1975
Followed by Paint in 1980 and The Lighthouse in 1995
I was trusted by his family to be the guardian of his unpublished poems
And to release them as I saw fit mainly to be published in literary journals
This I have done with a great pleasure for the last thirty-three years
My family and friends met last night and we toasted Stephen’s life
I later announced that I would be releasing four more unpublished poems
To the Searchlight magazine for publication in their January 2024 edition
Stephen Masefield 29th August 1954 – 17th September 1973