The Tale of Tom Brown
Mid 2007 to mid 2008
This is the tale of Tom Brown
A young man who drowned
Himself as drunk as a skunk
In binge-drinking sessions
And then ‘ecstacied’ himself
Into the depths of depression
Spiralling downwards,
He sunk,
Sunk,
Sunk…
Until one day he ended up in intensive care
As his liver needed an emergency repair
He had more than his fair share
Of morphine while in there,
His latest supply,
In getting by
In getting high
While in care
Soon his poor health
Is to be rewarded
With new sums of wealth
By the government accorded...
Rent free lodgings at,
And all to himself,
A massive Victorian 2 bedroomed flat
And a garage for a car
And on the best street in town
Or there around
And not too far from town
His social ground
He now brings home a state wage
£1000 a month or thereabouts
And £10 of which
He tries hard to put aside to pay
His benefit reduced council tax
Before the rest, he flouts
And blows away…
On top quality skunk
Crack cocaine, and ordinary cocaine
And sometime heroin, ‘brown’
He goes out all the time
To the best clubs in town
Where he orders bottle after bottle
Of champagne or the finest wine
To glug and gets himself blottoed
Then crawls home, a bloated slug
As for going on holidays
He uses ‘Direct Payment’ always,
The cherry heaped on top
Of the golden crusted benefit pies
Which he gladly reaps like a prize
And no holiday is too expensively steep in price
And it pays for all of his upkeep - nice !
And if he so wishes to stay abroad
He is confident that our government
Will pay his state wage and for his board
For him to continue to live his days, scored
Inside his coke-filled, crack-fuelled daze, abroad
As reported to Jane Air
Written in mid-2008. The figures mentioned relate to the period between mid 2007 and mid 2008 when Labour were in power.
I have revised this poem today, 8th April 2013, amid the welfare benefit reform changes that are currently taking place. Disability living allowance will gradually be phased out and replaced, as reported on the news today.
I have collected the notes for a sequel to 'The Tale of Tom Brown'.
Please note that I do not begrudge anyone who deservedly qualifies for disability living allowance and their right to this benefit.
http://authorsden.com/janeair
