Today I made a conscious effort,

Not to be so sad,

I even forced myself to smile,

Even though things are so bad.

You see, I lost my job a while ago,

Through no fault of my own,

And the bills are piling up,

The likes of which I’ve never known.

And a new job so far’s alluded me,

Though I’ve done my very best,

And my wife left home a week ago,

Because she just couldn’t stand the stress.

And to top it off, the bank has said,

That they’ll repossess our house,

If the mortgage arrears has not been paid,

Before the month is out.

And I’ll confess that suicidal thoughts,

Have sometimes crossed my mind,

I even wrote a final note,

That I could leave behind.

Of-course  I never did go through with it,

I didn’t even really try,

Perhaps I didn’t have the guts,

Or I just didn’t really want to die.

What prevented me from doing it,

I can’t say with honesty,

Maybe in truth, I came to realise,

There’s many far worse off than me.

Like the survivors of tsunami’s,

That have lost everything they own,

Along with their wives and children,

Their neighbours and their homes.

Or children of war-torn countries,

That have been orphaned by the war,

That know nothing about politics,

Or what their parents were slaughtered for.

All that they know for certain,

Is that they are hungry and afraid,

And all they have to look forward to,

Is more of what they had today.

Then there’s the parents of new born babies,

Their much loved daughters or cherished sons,

That are diagnosed with Leukaemia,

Before their young lives have begun.

How could I ever find comparison,

Between my troubles and their’s,

Mine pale into insignificance,

There’s no way they could compare.

Ok, it’s true , I lost my job,

And God knows thats’s a shame,

But I am young and have my health,

I know I’ll work again.

And tragically, my wife has left me,

That’s an undeniable fact,

But I am trying the best I can,

For a chance to win her back.

And as for the bank’s foreclosure,

Well I’ll just have to work that out,

I won’t let that define me,

Because I know without a doubt.

And that’s however hard or troubled,

This point in my life may be,

There are so many, many more,

That are much worse off than me.

By 

S.E.Ralph

11-1-2022