Ivy Poem by Francis Duggan

Many of you who have the power to help out others
You have not helped out ivy 'what's her name'
She's sixty years and on the street and homeless
And for her plight you won't take any blame.

You act as if it's her fault she is homeless
But her wealthy landlord on her rose the rent
He would not settle for a couple of dollars
He wanted a rise of forty per cent.

And forty per cent to one hundred is 140
By any standards a substantial rise
And the poor woman on a benefit of 170
That she is homeless now is no surprise.

She gets some help from the Salvation Army
The Salvos to the less well off are kind
It's the bureaucrats and the well off politicians
Who to the sufferings of the underclass are blind.

They do not want to know the likes of Ivy
To them she's just a woman on welfare
Their buddies are the wealthy and ambitious
And with their wealthy mates they only share.
One of the City's homeless is poor Ivy
The huge hike in rent she could not afford to pay
The rich get rich and the poor keep getting poorer
Why do things always have to be this way?

For every millionaire at least five thousand
Must live close to if not in poverty
And how can i say that all people are equal
When i can see such inequality.