They’re Blaming Themselves

 

     A couple argue over something trivial,

And the snarls - rants and discord

Reach fever pitch

     Until,

They are left to part

Their own silent corner

Of a damp tired home,

     And it’s a sad fact of life

That we argue at all,

But here in the deepest

Troughs of poverty,

The stress management can reach all

Who walk streets - paved

With only chewing gum

And dead embers of rolling tobacco,

 

     Stress management –

I beg more precisely be money management

And you know what it’s like,

You know how being drip fed

Benefits and pensions hurts

Like a bastard,

Hurts as you tally

What’s left to spend

On the bairns,

While lenders cash in

On payday loans,

     And it could be something

So trivial that sparks the fury,

And sometimes it’s the jury

That - send a man down –

And speaking of courts,

They are earning more than

A crust off those

Gone bankrupt

Or humiliated by

Debt relief orders,

     And that couple split,

Only for more court appearances

Over who gets the kids,

And so it rolls and rolls

For those born impoverished,

 

     If that couple had half the chance

With a minimum wage

That respects an honest day’s work,

 Those arguments would be less

Frequent,

     And the kids stay at home

With both ma and pa,

 

But, there is something

I know of, something more to be said

For the couple that argues over

How or whom pays the bread,

     While you’re shouting and ranting

And though it’s well understood,

You’re children are fearful

Of a dysfunctional home,

     And

When you’re kissing and cuddling

Making up for the row that you had,

Your kids are still crying blaming themselves,

For they don’t see when you’ve

Both healed from a spat,

     But they,

Need the cuddles as well.

 

 

Michael J Waite 27^th October 2013.