TO HIMSELF

This was written in 1984 and recorded in February 2018.

"Just because you're in a wheelchair
Doesn't mean you're not a wanker.
Just because you're old
Does not give you the right.
I once knew a blind man
Who pulled the wings off butterflies
And a leper who would shake your hand in spite.

Don't snap at me because your cancer's terminal.
Don't whine because you've only got one breast.
The genocide and massacre
And atom bombed Hiroshima
All queuing up to get it off their chest.

Just because you get depressed
Doesn't mean I have to listen.
When the world's against you
I might be on their side.
And don't imagine I'll feel guilty,
As I won't succumb to coy blackmail,
When I hear that you've committed suicide.

As you blubber and sob, 
Don't ask me why
When you find your mother's body
Hacked to bits.
Wasn't it you who left a father, 
Tortured, swinging in the air,
And laughed as you put out the eyes
And robbed and raped and terrorised
The innocents on the other side
Out of their wits?

You can have some of my room
If your mother took Thalidomide,
Chelsea pensioners
I'll help across the street.
For children with leukaemia
I'll grit my teeth and curse the sky,
As long as they make the best of their defeat..."