Retrenched
I am not employed any more
Too old at fifty-seven
Thirty-five years I worked for that firm
Making electric motors
I knew my stuff
Learnt the hard way
Went to night school for my trade needs
Mastered all skills pretty well
Endured the odd tyrant as a boss
But that was no real problem
The union kept them in check for most of the time
Earned enough to raise a family
Four boys and a girl
Wife didn’t work except at home
Life for both of us was manageable
Until the changes came
Takeover by an English firm and new engine design
Invasion by young bloods
With university qualifications
I had outlived my usefulness
It was time for me to go
Diplomatic praise coloured my farewell
And a travel bag gift
That was it
My usefulness was over
Bleak is the world if you’re no more needed
Looked for other work
But who wants an obsolete technician
Tried out as a labourer on roadwork
Which didn’t last
As the physical stress was beyond me
Got a job as Santa Clause with a big department store
But Christmas comes but once a year
So I’m on the dole queue now
That is just enough since my wife died
As to what comes next only fate will decide
O Hermes
Hermes – Greek God of Gambling
Here I sit
Pulling the poker machine lever
Longing to win though greed is a sin
Five of a kind is on my mind
There
See the wheels spin
It’s magic
Wondrous
Excitement comes
In the golden glee of anticipation
I know I will win soon
It has to be me
Soon you will see
There…
Oh dear
Well next time
Quick give the lever another flick
Ah that was close
Perhaps next time
Here we go…
Well never mind
There’s enchantment in the spinning wheels
Especially if you are the chosen one
That’s me
It has to be me
Certain to win
Eventually
As long as you don’t give in
Turn again wheels
Yes
This time…
No
Well never mind
Triumph is but a lever away
I cannot hear any other thing you say
Jockey
I am not a jockey any more
Was an apprentice once
But I got too heavy
Starved myself
Constantly beat up a punching bag
All in vain
Weight killed my career
No more pre-dawn duties now
Early rising for time trials on the track
No more cleaning the stables
Watching horses roll in the sand
Hosing them down afterwards
Then brushing their coat
No more crouching over the neck of muscular creatures
And whipping them to the post
I loved the smell of horses
As they stamped their feet at the starting gate
Felt the wonder of their surge forward as the race began
Rode a winner or two
Following the boss’s instructions
Rode losers too
Also following instructions
Was just beginning to learn race tactics
When weight crushed my career
Keeping the short priced favourite in a pocket
Seizing an opening before a desperate rival
Surging towards the winning post at the right moment
Had two bad falls
Broke a leg once and three ribs
But fear doesn’t get you
When you have no choice but to keep on riding
So that’s it
Just an urger on the track these days
No more horsemanship
Collect garbage for the council now
Memories are the only other reason for me to take a bow
Climbing Boy
I was a climbing boy for a chimney sweep
When I was but twelve years old
Memories are painful
They still haunt me
Even though time causes life to change
I am now old at sixty-three
And live on with the help of charity
But thoughts of those days
Never fade away
My parents sold me to Master Sweep Groggs
He called me his apprentice
What a false name!
We boys were but tools of greed
Enslaved to work in Hell
Some of us died, murdered by soot
My friend George Brewster
Met his death trapped
In a narrow chimney pipe
Some of us were killed by falls
We were always hungry
I slept on a basement floor
With a filthy sooty sack to keep me warm
I never knew the comfort of soap and water
We worked from dawn to dusk
Every day of the year
But May Day
When some of us danced in the streets
Mr Blake wrote poetry about us
And the parliament passed laws at last
Forbidding such work by children
Life for withered me now drags on by
But the recollections in my soul are yet to die
O Vietnam
My days as a soldier are over
Yet that life I led never leaves me alone
People still die in my mind
Innocent folk in disguise
I can still see the fear in their eyes
A so called entente was the guilty scenario
A reason for dark deeds
Arranged by me the agent of death
So many good people dying
When their one hostile act
Was to till their soil
Children in that place tasted poison
Harvested from the earth
Enemies emerging from holes in the ground
Met my bullets instead of the sun
It was a merciless crime, that time
A cause for so called justice planned in Hell
I saw the living
Converted to nothing but meat
As I fell from grace merely to avoid defeat
Killed anything that moved
And then sought reasons to disguise the truth
Sprayed a village with my bullets
Before I entered
Then found lifeless old folks who had wished me no harm
And a dead dog
Radioed advice on targets to the big guns
Annihilation was the consequence
All in the name of peace
O Vietnam
What have I done to you?
What have you done to me?
How noble you are to forgive me!
May all your children outlive me
Times Have Changed
I shall not work in a mine again
I have no place in the Minotaur’s den
No more digging up the sedimentary past
Safety from silicosis at last
The sun is mine whenever I choose
My toil for Pluto was a dangerous ruse
Methane’s no longer a threat to me
Neither is mine-induced seismicity
I choose normal wash now to rinse my shirts
Don’t scrub my hands with Solvol till it hurts
I am free of dangers that cause me stress
Such as the deadly H2S
I am finding peace now in my old age
Life free of shovelling suits this stage
The only lift now I explore
Is the one found in a department store
The air I breathe is free of dust
The ground I walk on I can trust
So there you have it, times have changed
My humble life is rearranged
For me a new day is suddenly dawning
And I can sleep in every morning
This feeling of peace is habit forming
As I help save the world from global warming
royciebaby
Royce Levi Australian Teacher and Author 