From Waiting Room to Departure Lounge
by Philip Shamplina
In the beginning, from your birth
You’ll never know, in the future, what you’ll be worth
Hatch, match and dispatch
For some, for a living, they have to scratch
Living on the wrong side of the tracks
With no-one to watch their backs
For some it will be a battle
And many cages they’ll have to rattle
Others who live in large mansions
And on whom there are no sanctions
They are bold, arrogant, not at all feeble
And quite often they can give you the needle
And many are disagreeable
They are the beautiful people, part of the in-crowd
Are always noticed because they talk so loud
For others, always with cap in hand
Life does not turn out to be so grand
So from waiting room to departure lounge
To onlookers they appear to always be on the scrounge
Life’s not fair, you hear so often quoted
It’s so often noted
In fact many go unnoticed
If life was fair we would all be equal
But there never is a sequel
For when life’s on the other foot
You can feel the boot
Not welcome, you’re shown the door
And you wonder if you’ll ever score
Three strikes and you’re out
On your bike, that’s what it’s all about
From waiting room to departure lounge
More often than not, they’re on the scrounge
Fed up doing the rounds
In the waiting room he’ll bed down for the night
Can’t rent a room as money’s tight
So he has to rough sleep
Don’t earn enough for his keep
The road upwards is steep
The years pass by, so very fast
As time goes on you keep looking for your next repast
Three score years and ten
What happens then?
In the distance you see the way out sign
Life’s not been fun, not a pantomime
No happy end in sight
Another sleepless night
So he’ll take refuge in the departure lounge
No difference, still on the scrounge
Tomorrow, same old, same old
From when you were once young and now have become old
Now in the departure lounge, what a cringe
Another bottle, another binge
So to sleep, another stupor
Never seen as a super duper
More as an interloper
From cradle to grave
Another life saved
How he managed to survive
But he did to the age of seventy five
No-one knows, but he did manage to live a full life
Never married, no children, no spouse, no wife
Copyright Philip Shamplina 2020
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For some it will be a battle
And many cages they’ll have to rattle
Others who live in large mansions
And on whom there are no sanctions