Ashamed Old Man

I have worked all of my life supporting kith and kin

Now the teenager in a suit say’s I’m never going to win

From the day I nearly died and my heart gave out a sigh

They say I’m fit enough to work and I ask the reason why?

To walk upstairs I have to sit on each and every other

I rely on everyone to help even my very old mother

The doctor says because I can walk in straight line for fifty metres

That I can’t be in the band they call the “Benefit Cheaters"

To sit here in the Job Club office is something that I hate

Humiliated and mortified, no excuse if you’re late

The youngster behind the computer screen just looks at me like dirt

Being a man of skill and pride your reaction to me just hurts

I was working long hard shifts years before you were born

Yet still you sit there with ignorance and scorn

So why tell me that I can lift a weight high above my head

When every time I brush my teeth I think I’ll end up dead

I never grew up in this world wanting to claim off tax

I grew up with men who worked all day falling with broken backs

My Father always taught me to always do what was right

And build my families future and work with all my might.

So I am sitting here now as a fifty-year-old and you look only ten

And I have to come here every week and degrade myself again

I want to work, I want to play and I want to be a man

But with a heart that’s breaking down I am doing what I can.

There are people that I know who have nothing wrong I’d say

But because they shout with an angrier tone they’ll never work a day

Because a child spits and swears and disobeys his teachers

They are called a special case, a job for do-good preachers.

They get benefits for this and benefits for that and a TV that fills a wall

But all I get, an honourable man, is heartache and a fall

I want to work, I want to play and I want to be a man

But with a heart that’s breaking down I am doing what I can.

It's time to see the doctor again to get more depressing news

Then off to see the job centre judges with all their negative views

But as I have said a thousand times I want to work but can't

My heart is saying sit down man, I feel just like a plant.

My roots are broken, my leaves are dropping, my berries have all gone sour

And I'm like a rotten vegetable sitting here hour after hour

“Can you type and can you talk?” the young guy starts to ask

“Can you work in any way on even a menial task?”

I want to say "Show me some respect!” I would love to shout and swear

But even telling this to my Doc is getting me absolutely nowhere

I want to work, I want to play and I want to be a man

But with a heart that’s breaking down I am doing what I can.

The other people sitting here just waiting for their turn

Being questioned by a little kid about new things they should learn

Please Mr. Doctor check my pulse and give my heart a listen

I don’t want to make my last working days a frightened and painful mission.

To you all I say both Dole man and Doc please see me as a man

Not another dole queue number I’m doing what I can

Please look and recognise me as someone who has his pride

And accept the fact I’m just not fit, from work I do not hide.

I want to work, I want to play and I want to be a man

But with a heart that’s breaking down I am doing what I can.