Not As Lucky As Me Poem by Randy McClave

I had a mother and a father
And we had a home,
They took care of me since a toddler
Around me they placed a dome.
I always had clean clothes to wear
There was always food on the table,
They showed me how to say a prayer
My life was indeed stable.
We lived in a good neighborhood
Friends lived to my left and to my right,
I slept happy and I most always felt good
And at bedtime, it was always quite.
I went to school everyday to learn
My parents taught me not to drink or smoke,
An allowance I did earnestly earn
Curse words I never did hear or spoke.
I lived in an industrial city
Jobs was everywhere when you looked,
Work was an essentiality
For a job soon I indeed would be booked.
Then I finally graduated high school
I now had an education and a paid for suit,
Now my life I was going to rule
My own horn I then proudly began to toot.
I decided to work where my dad did
So, soon there I was hired on,
I wanted to work there since I was a kid
But, sadly decades later all those jobs were gone.
I see homeless and needy people on the street
For food and money they constantly plea,
This is what I'll say with a sadness and without conceit
They weren't as lucky as me.

Randy L. McClave