Jimmy Mack Poem by Francis Duggan

If the soul dies with the body that won't worry Jimmy Mack
For he has known the hard life he's been to hell and back
One life he says enough for him the reaper he doesn't fear
And if there's a god he must be deaf his prayers he did not hear.

He prayed to god for his help the day the trench caved in
As the stones and earth were shovelled from around his legs by his fellow workmen
The pain it was unbearable as his workmates dug him free
And his legs were crushed and bleeding a horrific injury.

An accident that was to haunt him he had suffered so much pain
And below the knees his legs were amputated he would never walk again
The last twenty of his forty years he has spent in a wheelchair
And he will tell you with good reason that life is not always fair.

'Twould seem the gods are against him and his future looking black
And if the reaper comes for him tomorrow that won't worry Jimmy Mack
He no longer feels self pity and he has shed all of his tears
And his days he will spend in his wheelchair for his remaining years.