Also Ran

I learned something too well at school
Ever to forget the lesson.
You get stars or a prize
If you are top of the class.
But, you know what –
Out of twenty of more of us
It was only ever three
Who got the reward.
That was the real lesson
I learned at school –
Not maths or writing –
But that only three ever get the prize

It was the same with sports.
I really tried hard, legs pumping,
Heart pounding as fast as it could go.
It never got me in the top three though.
So could never manage to get noticed;
Never got chosen or praised.
All I managed was to be ‘also ran’.
Sex, money, success –
Heart pumping, legs pounding,
All without reward.

I heard someone talking
About advances that will
Enable people to live for extra years;
And I thought to myself,
What the fuck for?
To carry on being an also ran?
To continue forever struggling hard
To lose the race?

Us ‘have not’s’ won’t see
That longer life.
We’ll never get the rewards.
We never got hold
Of that much cash.

Copyright ©2008 Tony Crisp