The Change Poem by David Welch

I know that it struck me as strange
the moment I first felt the change,
a first inkling, it came to me
way back when I was twenty-three,
was my first summer out of school,
I met with my friend Jo Dankool,
he'd graduated two-years before,
I barely saw him anymore.
We met up for drinks one brisk night,
the way he moved didn't seem right,
his energy seemed all but robbed,
I asked and he said, "It's the job.
I like my work, please do not doubt,
but just got my taxes figured out.
I would be making eighty K,
but feds take so damn much away.
Annoyed to work sixty hours,
do all that is in my power,
only to lose a massive chunk,
two years back who would've thunk,
that I would look down on the poor
and wonder if they could do more…
For every one who really needs
it seems there are another three
who easily could be at work,
I point it out, they call me jerk.
to sit around while I toil
really gets the blood to boil,
why now has it become okay
to live off hand-outs all your days? "
I just let him rant and vent,
these words couldn't be what he meant.
Then I got a job selling boats,
and learned just why that way he spoke,
when I sweated quotas every day
to bring down my own fifty K.
worked hard for it, but they'd declare
that I was ‘rich, ' money to space,
that I was just a greedy bloke
not to give it to poor folks.
So why work then? I wracked my brain,
felt the first stirrings of the change.

The second time was three years later,
when my cousin called me ‘hater, '
she had gone and got pregnant, see,
despite only being eighteen.
The father had, of course, skipped out,
she claimed, "I don't need him anyhow!
I am just fine here on my own,
I can't bring up this kid alone! "
Claimed that she didn't need a man,
that on her own she'd proudly stand.
I said nothing, but I should have,
maybe stopped it from going bad,
but my cousin was obstinant,
and did not see the detriment,
When a year passed I came again,
saw what she'd been living in:
Basement studio, in downtown,
the place where folks don't hang around,
could not work with a young baby,
lived off hand-outs, paid for by me,
had been robbed twice, never felt safe,
all of the light drained from her face,
she just said she was, "getting by, "
no hint of sparkle in her eyes.
I can tell you I was quite disturbed,
suggested she seek out the father,
see if he could pay his fair share,
her furry caught me unaware.
She still gave me the same old rant,
that she was fine, needed no man,
she claimed that she was, "Doing great! "
Yet her furniture was packing crates.
Despite the fact she was a mom,
she was a kid, throwing tantrums,
believing that an angry yell
could hide the fact she needed help.
So I went to the drug store quick,
stocked up on more prophylactics,
no kid of mine will live that way…
another stirring of the change.

The third time I was just thirty,
had a girlfriend, red-hot pretty,
my twenties had been a fine time,
but permanence was on my mind.
She had moved into my new house,
though that she would end up my spouse,
but soon I saw things going wrong,
the happiness did not last long.
Every week she wanted something new,
which she would take with no thank you,
when I tried to give her my time
she scowled as if I'd crossed a line.
Always tried to drive it in my skull
that I should be oh-so grateful,
blessed that she was in my life,
convinced that all she did was right.
Those privileged words, they made me think
back to what started the whole thing,
I'd thought her pretty in a bar,
and she'd been impressed by my car.
Beyond that I couldn't think of one
single thing we had in common,
I'd never had such thoughts before,
she had been hot, who needed more?
Bound up by such thoughts troubling,
I asked, "Are you grateful for me? "
She looked at me like I'm the jerk,
said, "That's not how relationships work! "
Then launched into epic tirade,
could have any man any day,
that if I didn't meet her whims
others were waiting for a spin.
She then asked if I understood,
I said I did, all well and good,
I was just a means to her ends,
her mind too ruined to pretend
that ‘equal' we could ever be,
and that was not okay with me.
I threw her out, it left her vexed,
a man who wanted more than sex?
And I thanked God that very day
that I had finally made the change.