"What is this 'mid life sleep'?"
Confused, you ask yourselves.
Is it snoozing in dinner breaks?
"No, it's being put on the shelf"

To young for the big sleep,
Too old for a job,
Not worth retraining,
You'll hear me sob.


So, change is afoot,
More leisure, a fate,
Much less money,
Living off the state.

Doing the rounds
In the benefit line,
Relations assure you,
"It'll all turn out fine."


"But I haven't prepared,
There are bills to be paid,"
This is the stuff
Of which panics are made.

"Time's a great healer
More platitudes I hear
168 hours every week to fill
And no money to buy any beer!

"Ah! Money you say...
You need to assemble a package
Of pension, redundancy pay
Benefits and the like
Then, you'll see, mark my words, you'll manage!"

So, I'm rhyming along on the crest of no choice
The sun impairing my sight
With eyes in my head on a distant horizon,
Somehow, I'm heading for light...

Any thoughts, any advice
I'll happily stand by and listen
Otherwise another poet'll sing songs
About the work that he's missing.

© Stefan Lewis-Fish
(6th January 1999)