"My Left Hand"

Tonight...
I shall spend...
Yes I do mean 'spend'
As in...'spill my seed'
With my closest companion.
My left hand.
For tonight
Is the night
For which the expression
'Billy-no-Mates'
Was invented
As the rest of the country
Are loved up demented.
How can you buy a card
Costing more than a plate
Of double pie, double mash
With the cost of chocolates and flowers
A darn sight more than a decent
Pisshead night on the lash?
Even if I ever had a man
To hold and cuddle tight
Spendling that much
Simply wouldn't seem right.
It's all one big con
A consumerist game
Loved by florists and Cadburys
Such fondness so lame
Higher prices
for your domestic vices...
What are you hiding
Behind public romantic kiss
Privately taking the piss!
Domestic violence for
The rest of the year
Beating your partner
Tanked up with beer.
But tonight you're sat
In a fancy restaurant
Table with candle
One night of 'true love'
Is all you can handle.
You might mock me
For being a single fool
But my head is held high
Because I couldn't do cruel.
My heart might be heavy
Thoughts in a muddle
But I'd prefer all of that
To your double-standards
Two-faced cuddle.

Dulwich Poet 14th February 2014

( This poem is a cross between feeling sorry for myself, for being alone, while wondering how many 'happy couples' have a terrible life at home behind their own front doors, through unseen domestic violence)