Old Jenny Poem by Francis Duggan

The children taunt old Jenny they say you can't chew meat
And you must eat your porridge you don't have any teeth
They call her Gummy Jenny and then they run away
And when she yells 'you go to hell' it only makes their day.

But children will be children they still have much to learn
And the difference between fun and harassment they have yet to discern
By making Jenny angry such fun in that they see
And if she did not react to them perhaps they'd leave her be

She lives on retirement pension in need of every cent
It's a struggle for her just to survive to buy food and pay rent
One of the forgotten people one of the many who
Deserve better in their old age respect is overdue.

Condemned to suffer the jeers and taunts of every young blaghguard
For all of the Jenny's of this World life must be very hard
Some children have fun taunting her to cruelty they are blind
Though many are far more aware and are not so unkind.

Some children taunt old Jenny she shouts 'you go to hell'
And they run off on down the street and laugh loud as she yell
Condemned in her twilight years to suffer the ridicule
Of naughty little rascals who have only started school.