Headless chickens run after dispatch

But eggs they lay can never hatch

Might double-yolked ones be twins that match?

Well never know, ahh, that’s the catch

None know for sure what’s round the bend

As warily life’s paths we wend

If future’s shape you really seek

Your parents and siblings can lend a peek.

I blame the schools for letting us down

Didn’t learn us right in this crummy town

Just bin sent home early for being a lout

But me mam’ll go up to sort them out

Me dad says discipline’s well gone to pot

In his day teachers earned the respect they got

When he got the cane for acting the fool

His dad added a clout, supporting the school

They reckon my teachers could have tried a lot more

To make me sit still in wonder and awe

But they can’t compare to a console game

Their boring book-learning all seems so tame

Me dad doesn’t work and me mam’s just the same

Getting money from Social is their only real aim

But this government’s tight giving its cash away

Surely they can afford a better day’s pay

Our satellite dish is ready for the bin

Can’t upgrade my mobile on what’s coming in

Why shouldn’t we get what others have got

If we came from abroad we’d be given the lot

I’m off down the pub to meet with me mates

Then hook up with Tatum round the park gates

She’ll beg for a cuddle and I’ll sure give her one

The damage is done, she’s three months gone

We’ve talked to the council about a new flat

But the girl in the office is really a prat

She says we must wait or save for some rent

If she had her way, we’d sleep in a tent

We’ll move in with Mam, if all else fails

But she moans like hell, says I’ve gone off the rails

It’s not my fault we can’t make our own way

I blame the system, at the end of the day.

Below, beguiled, her eyes smile

Innocently, sounds escape her lips

Melodic laughter glides up the stairs

Taunting my melancholy

Saying, ‘Come, soar with me’.

Our children, careless, scarce believe

Both parent’s will did them conceive

Each issue’s vista from first breath

Oft egocentric until death

What can they know of parents’ stories

As bravely forsaking social mores

We too railed ‘gainst the status quo

Lending ears to ideas to help them grow

Eyes that witnessed joy and pain

Hearts moved by emotions once arcane

Lips caressed by loved one’s kisses

Memories; poignant reminisces

Young see us aged by endless days

Of striving and caring in myriad ways

now dull, shame-wearied and resigned

seeking only security and peace of mind

Feint shadows linger o’er spent youth

Pleading we weren’t always long in tooth

A footprint left on shifting sand

Few words bequeathed to understand

Late lithe bodies, locked in sepia prints

Ravaged by aches; showing other hints

That time must come when, cold as stone

We’ll leave our progeny all alone

Listening for echoes on the breeze

Distant reflections, stirring unease

Looking to new born, if fate has deemed

Now knowing we were more than once we seemed.