Swept Aside

The phone or doorbell rings, I walk away
From the debts that call or knock.
In equal measure fortune's whims
Join our unforgiving fiscal sins
To hunt us down.

God only knows how I became so poor
At mortgaging fun's borrowed expectation.
Bad cash decisions sneer costly smiles:
Smile cars, meals and foreign holidays.
Smile and snigger.

I thank the luck of history's draw that
The workhouse is an attraction. But shame
Remains and each domino that tumbles numbs
My family's love I fear. I failed to make a
success of life.

In five tough years half a million
Pounds of tax and wages paid counts
For nothing. Hopeless bitterness and
Anger at those helped are poisonous
Rewards for those

Who are the human costs of greed.
I was greedy and I had hubris too
Qualities that some have put to use.
Their gains and my losses coincide,
Holding you I'm swept aside.