Samuel Poem by Francis Duggan

Samuel is at the crossroads of his life he is out of work and on the dole
His teenage daughter a drug addict and stress on him taking it's toll
His wife lives with another fellow and he struggles for to make ends meet
Life for sure isn't meant to be easy for those who live on
'no hope street'.

Yet he knows how to cope in the rat race with homelessnes at a young age he learned how to cope
As a teenager of the slum suburb for him there did not seem much hope
That he would survive even to see twenty but he is made of sterner stuff
There is so much truth in the saying that the brave at heart survive living rough.

His late father in jail for armed robbery and his mum married her lover Drew
A brute of a man his stepfather the cruelest one he ever knew
He beat Samuel without provocation he became a street kid at thirteen
He only knows about the hard life and only the hard times he's seen.

He found a job and saved some money and he married his childhood sweetheart Kate
And the birth of their daughter Jacinta was something he did celebrate
For ten years life for him going nicely till the factory he worked in was closed down
And jobs to find almost next to impossible for those from the poor side of town.

He lives in a dingy basement apartment where he struggles to pay the rent
But it beats sleeping in an old factory doorway and better than life in a tent
Next July Samuel will turn forty but he won't celebrate his
birthday
Still he remains a positive fellow the good times not distant he say.