Selling The Party

United families in Northern towns
Living on thin ice, skating around
Walking away from obvious grace
Satisfied and ready to do without face
To do without face, to do without face

Platforms and stages going to ruin
Shoes and overcoats, ill-fitting, overworn
On the mainland of this great nation
Professional beggars can't do without more
Do without more, they can't do without more

Attempts to economise alleviate a little
Everyday worries and luxuries they can't afford
Absolute misery, relative ease
Statistical minorities can't do without more
And can't understand, they can't understand

Agents of caring intervene at random
Helping and hoping but altering less
Liberal principles, middle class guilt
Is salved for return to habitual dreams
Habitual dreams, recurring working class dreams

Tables set with glasses preserve an appearance
Ineffectual barriers to low self-esteem
Swearing, shouting, literary discourse
Effective language for low level lies
Low level lies, low level lies