he deserved better
though no one ever said so
his lot by choices made and birth decreed
in another age he might have been a hero
living to a code that he believed
he deserved better
although he rarely argued
accepting that in life we pay a price
so he just got on with doing what he had to
a slave to circumstance
he played it nice
except for once or twice
when folks harangued him
bedevilled him to choose a different path
castigated choices, rules he lived by
then another side was seen
and no one laughed
courageous then to ethics and behaviours
a knight of old who’d sworn to do his best
an explorer extraordinaire
a real man
tackling each and every challenge
daily tests
he deserved better
one or two of us knew that that was true
and we cheered silently on the sidelines
urging his success in what he felt he had to do
she deserves better
I saw her on the street just yesterday
her coat hung heavy on her shoulders
her face resigned to to all she had to pay
she might have travelled once in covered wagons
tilled at soil cemented on some plot
sewed seeds of future, harvested, lamented
a stoic that the caravan forgot
they deserve better
perhaps we all do
cast in roles
few choices
birth decreed
unsung heroes
terrain and times denying
that courage stands
on work-worn wounded knees
scottishmomus 