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| Graeme reads his poem to a hushed crowd |
"Off to work
he kisses his wife’s cheek
Goodbye Linda
see you at the end of the week
Working on a
building site 200 miles from home
Blacklisted
by employers George will always moan
A good trade
union member he has always been
Always ready
to report a bad health and safety scene
No greedy
profit on site with safety reps being there
The poor employers
their pockets would be bare
So don’t
give George a job on site
And
employers’ profits will always be right
On Friday
morning he is thinking of not being alone
Another
seven hours and he will be heading home
George’s mobile
sparks to life
A phone call
from Linda his darling wife
Congratulations
George you have just become a granda
Remember on
the way home to pick up that toy panda
George walks
from the canteen in a sprightly manner
Thinking of
home and making a banner
Dreaming of
the future and dancing at his grand
daughters
wedding
He will see
her soon as for home he is heading
He goes to
the site office to see his bosses
They are in
a meeting discussing potential losses
He asks if
he can go home soon
As he has a
new grand daughter and is over the moon
The boss
tells him about a loose pipe on the roof top
And if he
fixes it now then he can stop
George looks
up at the job
And with
excitement he begins to sob
The costly
scaffold it has long gone
So he grabs
a ladder and dances over like a swan
Up the
ladder to fix the pipe
Another
twenty minutes and he will be on his bike
He climbs
off the ladder up to the peak
And the
blood flows from his cheek
He steps on
moss upon the roof
And his
footing it goes all aloof
From twenty
metres George does fall
And he gives
out one massive bawl
The
paramedics they didn’t take long
But poor old
George he was already gone
The bosses
in their ivory tower
Stopped his
wages because it was in their power
Sitting in
their Armani suits
Drinking out
of champagne flutes
We never
told him to use a ladder
They
slithered from the blame like a venomous adder
Crocodile
tears they did shed
They thought
oh my God George is dead
We must lose
no more money on this site
Call the
agency and get another man in that is right
Meanwhile Linda
is at home as high as a kite
Arranging a
60th birthday party for George that night
30 friends
and family have arrived at the house
Hiding in
the garden and being as quite as a mouse
Suddenly
there is a knock at the door
And Linda
thinks George has left his keys on the floor
All his
friends come to the front
They shout
surprise as a little stunt
The door is
open and a policeman stands tall
And poor old
Linda to the ground she falls"
Graeme Farquhar Unite