some guys

some guys

there are good men, decent, everywhere,

loving, giving, caring fathers

who will never make the headlines -

no man sees them - they don’t go unseen

there are men, who labour winter nights

hacking a clearway through sewage pipes

blocked by congelations from takeaways’

careless kitchens, and baby wipes

there are men, working ‘all the hours’

cash in hand, cleaning offices, washing dishes

sending a pittance to distant villages

keeping generations from starvation

there are men at cancer ward windows

frightened fathers hugging frightened children,

as mother wastes away in pain,

telling them ‘everything will be okay’

there are innocent men, losers of

custody battles, watching their children

raised by mother’s lover, a stranger

with a suburban semi. - he drives an Audi

there are ‘scarfer’ men loving footy

proudly supporting their local team 

offended by the foul-mouthed, hateful

soul-wounding chanting all around them

there are gentle men, gentlemen

who would not harm a living thing

facing random violence every day

from pavement muggers and moped gangs

there are placid men who cannot wear

the too-tight shoes of greedy commerce

or fight onto a tube of commuters

avoiding being a ‘hot desk’ loser

there are men whom ‘death has not undone’

loving, lending, caring, sharing, men,

they don’t make celebrity magazines

no man sees them - they don’t go unseen.