Lucky

Richard Thomas

When a foetus or baby, I then could have been: 

 Born to mother who died, or with father unknown 

 Into poverty born in a nation not free 

 With impairments or problems I've never outgrown 

 Or by parents aborted if she, not a he. 

 I was lucky 

 When a child and teenager, I could have been: 

 A delinquent or orphan or war refugee 

 Or abandoned or crippled, for child labor used 

 Without friends, joy, or future or dead from OD 

 Or unschooled or deprived or unloved or abused. 

 I was lucky 

 When full-grown in my prime, I could also have been: 

 An inebriate, parasite, vagrant, or jailed 

 Or been killed in a war or had not met my wife 

 Unemployed or an entrepreneur who had failed 

 Or severely depressed or had taken my life. 

 I was lucky 

 And I could in the decades that followed have been: 

 Unexpectedly fired, into bankruptcy forced 

 By an accident maimed, watching children go bad 

 Or a victim of crime or been sued or divorced 

 Or betrayed by a friend, or gone stark, raving mad. 

 I was lucky 

 With retirement approaching, I then could have been: 

 From my children estranged, mourning death of my wife 

 Or investing unwisely or homeless or broke 

 Having manic disorders or bored with my life 

 Or in hospital bed with a cancer or stroke. 

 I was lucky 

 Over eighty, like many my age I could be: 

 With no pension or savings or family left 

 Or dependent on charity, begging, or theft 

 In a nursing home languishing, sad and confined 

 All alone and an invalid, witless, or blind. 

 I am lucky (or blessed)