Those Who Rely On Government Poem by David Welch

Anferny was convinced that all
his problems were due to his skin,
he'd been told by teachers, and his mom,
that there was just no way to win.
He grew up believing he was part
of an awful, bigoted nation,
that he could never survive without
hand-outs and reparations.
He never tried to keep a job,
wouldn't be caught ‘acting white, '
believed that he was a victim,
an thus had extra moral ‘rights.'
Spent all his days scraping by
on a meager monthly check,
turned to drugs to hide the fact
that his whole life was a wreck.
On welfare until he was forty,
when an overdose his heart rent,
Anferny relied on the government,
Anfery died on the government.

Savannah, she was quite a beauty,
and knew that fact all too well,
she battled her lashes and the boys
ran up as if she'd rung a bell.
But she believed she ‘needed no man, '
and always flitted from guy to guy,
content to ride on the carousel,
seeking nothing but a good time.
Until one day she was thirty-six
and decided to find a husband,
but her looks had faded noticeably,
she could no longer hook a man.
With no real skills to fall back on,
she turned desperately to the state,
she later died, alone and poor,
found with her cats eating her face.
Her final decades spent miserably,
living on other folk's dollars and cents,
Savannah relied on the government,
Savannah died on the government.

Paul fought for his county overseas,
he did all his country could ask,
never a foe did he let escape,
he took our enemies to task.
He came home and lived his life,
made good money as an auctioneer,
until three years later when he went
to a veteran's doctor in fear.
He'd found a lump, and the biopsy
showed it to be a malignant growth,
a cancer that was aggressive,
it was a hard and heartbreaking blow.
They began chemotherapy,
but they started it too late,
because of bureaucratic fools
who'd made a paperwork mistake.
By the time they got it right
his last remaining strength was spent,
Paul had trusted in his government,
Paul died on his government.