.5. Skill Shortage Poem by David Threadgold

Who will they send in twenty years?
To repair my worn out thatch
Who’ll help the ageing Thatcher
With skills to make it match

What happens when the skills are gone?
With no one left for training
What will my old roof look like?
With holes and nonstop raining

Does no one want to learn the craft?
Are they physically unable?
Or do they fear hard labour
In this work forever stable

Where will my next roof come from?
If the Thatcher’s all retired
Where is the sense of losing it?
An ancient craft expired

When the final Thatcher is no more
A lost craft sealed its fate
And a modern roofer comes to call
No thatch just tiles or slate


© 2008 David Threadgold
Rambling Riddles & Rhymes