“Welfare”

by  Bonnie Briggs

Published: June 25, 2009

You’re a bum, you’re on Welfare,
I’m paying for you, don’t you care?
You buy your beer, your drugs, your smokes,
You think that my hard work’s a joke.
Get a job, you lazy lout!
Learn what hard work’s all about.
I worked for what I own,
My VCR, my car, my home,
Wait a minute, What’s the news?
Am I singing the Unemployment Blues?
The factory’s closed, it’s moved down South?!
How will I put food into my mouth?
Go on Welfare? I refuse!
Any other way to choose?
UIC and savings soon run out.
It’s the Welfare line I must scout.
I’m on Welfare, oh the shame,
Oh, the blot on my good name.
How do you live on your cheque?
Do you feel a millstone on your neck?
I get my cheque, the money’s spent,
When I buy food and pay the rent.
You’re a survivor, you’re on Welfare,
Not enough people care.

Share this poem with others!