Snakes & Ladders

33 years
Of blood sweat and tears
33 years of graft
Half a life time given
Every ladder risen
A few snakes he fell down
The game played
To perfection
Until the opponent
Changed the rules
The land of the working class
Conquered by privatisation
No more room to manoeuvre
No more room to dodge
It was hard for the wise old leopard
To reconnect the dots.

33 years served
You get less for murder
The sentence served
To provide a life
For a wife and children
Who never knew
Where Daddy was
Week nights 9-9
But are now thankful
For the sacrifice of time

33 years of your life
Only to be thanked by the newly privatised hierarchy buying the lies of a spineless rat on the other end of a
a whistle blower line
Looking to climb the same ladders you did
Once upon a time
But you did it with pride
You did it with style
You did it right
And I'm proud to call you my father
And hear you walked
With a middle finger risen as high as your chin
All the while with a uncompromising grin

So here's to you old man
May your early retirement be filled with nothing but joy and laughter
And may the spineless rat
With a target on his back
One day meet
His karma.