Skip to main content
Advertise Buy the paper Contact us Shop Subscribe Support us

Error message

An error occurred while searching, try again later.
Old
by Jude Price

Retirement age up to 67
If you don’t die in work and already in heaven 
A life of toil just got longer
Declining health, not getting stronger

The 9-5 really taking its toll
When you really should be on the Costa del Sol 
Back’s done in and your hands are all crippled
From a lifetime of work, done on the fiddle
So give me my pension, I’ve done my time 
I’ve paid into the scheme over my life time
51 years of work, it’s modern slavery
Government extorting money outta you and me
So where’s our money gone over this time 
Why have you raised the age to the average death time
Taking away right to protest, and human rights 
Paying in for years, and just disappear outta sight

Government raising the age constantly
Never letting anyone reclaim part of the fee
Useless eaters that all we become
And never add up to the total of our sum
Life support disappearing into thin air
Nothing to eat, and no one to care
No heat, no shelter, just being priced out to die 
Moving the carrot with every step we try
No-one’s interested in your life and what you’ve done
Especially now you’ve got no income 
So just fuck off into the corner, and wither away 
Nobody’s interested in anything you got to say
So now you’ve died, and you’re brown bread
And everyone starts recounting the things that you did 
And people remember things you’ve said 
Funny how interesting you become once you're dead

Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Short Story / 7 February 2025
7 February 2025
The phrase “cruel to be kind” comes from Hamlet, but Shakespeare’s Prince didn’t go in for kidnap, explosive punches, and cigarette deprivation. Tam is different.
BenchMarx / 28 January 2025
28 January 2025
ANGUS REID deconstructs a popular contemporary novel aimed at a ‘queer’ young adult readership
Best of 2024 / 3 January 2025
3 January 2025
A landmark work of gay ethnography, an avant-garde fusion of folk and modernity, and a chance comment in a great interview
Theatre review / 29 November 2024
29 November 2024
ANGUS REID applauds the inventive stagecraft with which the Lyceum serve up Stevenson’s classic, but misses the deeper themes