Sam

During the day Sam rifles the rolls for something to eat,
Sometimes he finds something to sell to buy cheap booze
At night you can find him on the closed down factory site
Where the homeless are basking at fires in barrels and drinking their hooch

Once he had a job, a health insurance, he had a home,
Once he had a life and a family,
Once he had the hope to become debtless and to own a used car,
Once he had modest dreams.

Sam has always been an honest man, god-fearing and frugal,
A hard working man who never tried shooting for the moon,
Like his father and his grandfather before, he took a job at the Jonston Steel,
Working at the furnaces; after he had finished school,
He met Sandy, she worked at the accountants’ department,
Sam and Sandy married and they lived with Sam’s family
When Sandy got pregnant, she resigned from her job
They took a loan and bought a shabby small house at the end of the street

Sam had a job, a regular salary, they had a home,
They were a family,
There was the hope of a modest wealth and to own a used car one day,
They had modest dreams.

Sam became a foreman, earned a little more money,
He began to fix up the house, everything seemed alright
But then they closed down the Jonston Steel
Sam lost his job just as they expected their second child.
The times were hard, Sam took every job he could find
To earn the living and to repay the loan
Fifteen hours a day, six days a week, lowly paid
And without insurance, he wasn’t there when his boy was born,
One day while working construction, Sam fell down from a scaffold,
Injured his leg hard so he couldn’t work no more,
Sam fell into a deep dark hole and began to drink, he got more and more crabby and aggressive, Sam and Sandy quarreled almost every day,
Sometime Sandy couldn’t stand it no more, she took the children,
Went back to her parents, three month later the bank took their house away

Sam had lost his job, he had lost his house, he had lost his home,
He had lost his family,
Sam had lost his dreams; he had lost his hopes, his self-regard,
Sam had lost everything

Now Sam rifles the rolls for something to eat,
Sometimes he finds something to sell to buy cheap booze
At night you can find him on the closed down factory site
Where the homeless are basking at fires in barrels and drinking their hooch

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