If By Chance Poem by Danny Draper

If by chance yours fell from grace
Would you lower your hand
To lift them from that place?

If by chance you were born into the poor
Would you not appreciate a helping hand
So that all had a little more?

If you or yours could not attend a basic school
To learn life's essential tools
Would you not slip further behind each day?

Would you even with grudging indignation
Mind resources for a smarter nation
So those serving give you correct change?

Would you ever consider paying your taxation share
Like an insurance to ensure there
Is enough to sustain and keep them, over there?

If by fate your wealth succumbs to
Foreigners avarice and toxic charms
Would you appreciate some small concession?

If by chance you lost your wealth
And with ageing declined in health
Would you not expect a decent level of care?

If you could imagine real poverty
With no chance of escaping the underclass
Would you still deride the poor?

If you struggled on a low income
With no means to improve your lot
Would you be forgiven for being petty?

If you or yours could not work enough hours
To earn a wage to maintain a living
Would you not grow desperate and angry?

If you eeked out a living on a pension
That barely sustained you against privation
You would know what it means to want?

If you saw the haves and their glare flashed wealth
Flaunted across the widening divide
Would you not be suspicious if you were poor?

If you lost all you had,
Job and home and dignity
Would you accept a helping hand?

If you look at the poor thinking let them aspire
But want the security of the divide assured
Would you not constantly raise the bar?

If you through ivory windows gaze
On austerity as it eats the poor,
Will you not see the darkening dissent?

If you think it fair to chip away
The caring wealth we've all invested
Will you account your theory tested?

Do you think welfare is misguided haste,
Your money will always be in fashion
And you'll never need to draw upon this waste?

Is it not however, our society's greatest asset
To assist one another and to lift the fallen
With dignity and compassion?