Young Al Poem by Francis Duggan

Young Al believes our destiny is beyond our control
Three months back the factory he worked in went into liquidation he now is on the dole
And of unemployed young people plenty and of jobs for them too few
And that the gap between the haves and the have nots keeps widening only happens to be true.

Were I born to be a President Al has been known to say
I would not be living in a dingy basement flat today
And I would not be born into poverty at the bottom of the social heap
Some must follow on the leader who is like the Judas sheep.

He must have written hundreds of job applications but all to no avail
And better to try than not try at all though at the end you fail
His address is against him and though hard for work he try
Those out of work on his side of the Town employers do not employ.

A young man in his early twenties and his future looking bleak
And he has to live on welfare two hundred bucks a week
He lives in the poor suburbs a child of the lesser gods
Where to know any sort of success one has to overcome the odds.