LOST ALL LOST

Why are you sitting there, old mother?
In that wheelchair on the street,
Clinging to your little dog and crying.
Are you sick or just lost?
Where is your family?
Where is your home?

Lost, all lost.
First, they took away my Medicare
And I couldn’t get my medication
Then they took my social security
And I couldn’t pay my bills
Finally, it was my home they took.
And now I’m on the street.

What happened to your savings?
That little pension that helped you live
There must be a place for you to go.
Where is your family, old mother?
Why don’t you live with them?
You can’t just sit here, you’ll die you know.

Lost, all lost.
My daughter has her children.
They are struggling just to live.
Her husband lost his job.
And cannot find another
Their savings are all gone.
There is no place for me.

My son’s wife doesn’t want me
She said I’d be a bother
I should go into a home
Where there are nurses to look after me.
She doesn’t understand.
Those homes want money too.

Lost, all lost.
They said I should have saved more.
I thought I had enough
With my little pension
Social security and Medicare
Which my husband and I paid into
For the fifty years we worked.

Old mother, you can’t stay here
Sitting in the street
There must be somewhere you can go
Someone who’ll take you in.
Perhaps your church can help
And find you a place to live?

Lost, all lost.
My church is overpacked
With all those who came before me.
The ones who started with less.
And lost their homes
When Medicare and social security were cut.

Thank you for your concern,
I see you have problems too.
Did you lose your job?
Or was your pay cut in half?
Are your savings all depleted?
When minimum wage was cut.

Alas, old mother, you are right.
My children can no longer go to school
Since, they privatized everything
They have no future that I can see
Unless, they live long enough
And go fight in one of the wars.

Lost, all lost.
Perhaps, young man
You can get a job, burying the dead
Who died before their time.
The soldiers, hurt in the wars
The old without a home
And the babies to be born.

All gone, lost, all lost.
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