No Comfort, No Joy (Christmas At The Social Security Office) Poem by John F. McCullagh

You came into our office hopping on a wooden leg
You said if not for S.S.I. you’d surely have to beg.
I’ve bad news but there’s good news too
And this should cheer you up:

We all chipped in to buy you a tin cup, a tin cup

When you hit the streets you’ll have a new tin cup



You said you were disabled and you thought that you would die
Our team of crack physicians has determined it’s a lie.
There are lots of jobs that you can do with one leg and one eye

We regret that your claim has been denied, been denied

From the contents of your tin cup you’ll get by.


You came into our office favoring your one good knee
Your prostrate glad is swollen and you badly have to pee
Just don’t expect that you will get much sympathy from me

For we all have got problems of our own, of our own

Translated into Gaelic- Pog Mi Ohn



Notes S.S.I.= Supplemental Security Income, a government stipend program

Pog Mi Ohn = Kiss my rear (keeping it clean)