Saturday, 2 May 2015

"Sit Down Shut Up"

I was only going two stops
So I pretended I didn’t care
I am so ashamed of myself
All I did was stand and stare.
You didn’t want to move your pram
Your baby might wake up and cry
Well if that’s such a hardship
Give being sat in a wheelchair a try.
I should have opened my mouth
And said something…anything
But wasn’t up for a row
Even though I’d have been right
Against such an ignorant cow.
Your child is just a baby
But what chance will it have to learn
If for good old fashioned decency
They only have you to turn?
For that empty space on buses
It’s not a buggy park
The priority is for the disabled
The contrast couldn’t…
Be more stark.
They’re in wheelchairs
For a reason!
It’s because they aren’t able to stand
Never mind sit in a seat
Even if you give them a hand.
They can’t fold up their wheelchairs
Like you can with a pram
What makes you so special
That you don’t give a damn?
This disabled bloke wasn’t angry
He must be used to…
Being treated like shit
A second class citizen
Taken for a twit.
In fact he was the proudest
A better person
Than her or me.
He might have been
Locked in his wheelchair
But his dignity was there to see.
I’m sorry I didn’t speak out
I kept my feelings inside
I’m ashamed I didn’t step in
Apologies for choosing to hide.

Dulwich Poet 2nd May 2015


(I was on a very lazy two stop bus ride, to the train station. It was a packed 202 single decker, and a woman wouldn’t mover her pram because her baby was asleep in it, and she didn’t want to wake it up. Her pram was in the wheelchair area…and she wouldn’t move it for a bloke in a wheelchair. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t get involved, and stayed quiet.)

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