Sending that text in the midst of anger

Waiting for love in the rain

Watching TV in the bedroom so late

That your eyes start to smart with the strain.

 

Eat chips, drink wine, eat more cake in the dark

Smoke when your chest’s sounding rough

Watch scary movies with only one eye

Lie awake imagining stuff.

 

Answer the land-line, though it’s a cold caller

Go out in the snow - your hair’s damp

Step in the puddles, step off the kerb

Give your loose change to a tramp.

 

Pick up the litter although it’s not yours

Push when the signs say pull

Stand and let everyone pass through the doors

Go in and find all the seats full.

 

Smile at a stranger, lend cash to a clown

Give a treat to your dog, he looks sad

Chatter and babble when you should pipe down,

Say it’s good when you know it tastes bad

 

Teach a bored child to blow down a straw

Give up your spare time for free.

Place a loose rug on a high polished floor

Make a small home for a bee

 

Lay an anaemic lost worm on the soil

Dance though your hip’s going to ache

Carefully roll up the hose to a coil

Then step on the teeth of the rake

 

Warm your cold feet on the radiator

Prudence is dull and mundane

Scratch those chilblains a day or two later

The pleasure is so worth the pain.