By Ray McGovern
This just in from a cousin in Co. Tipperary, courtesy of his deceased wife who hung it in a prominent place on the wall. Just decades ago, she herself might have been hanged on the wall by a vicious Empire in its last throes.
The Nothing People
They do not lie;
they just neglect to tell the truth.
They do not take;
they simply cannot bring themselves to give.
They do not steal;
they scavenge.
They will not rock the boat;
but did you ever see them pull an oar?
They will not pull you down;
they’ll simply let you pull them up, and let that pull you down.
They do not hurt you;
they merely will not help you.
They do not hate you;
they merely cannot love you.
They will not burn you;
they’ll only fiddle when you burn.
They are the nothing people;
the sins-of-omission folk;
the neither-good-nor-bad-
and-therefore-worse.
Because the good at least keep busy trying,
and the bad try just as hard,
both have that character that comes
from caring, action and conviction.
So give me every time an
honest sinner, or even a Saint.
But, God and Satan,
get together,
and protect me from the nothing people.
(Anon)