The Old Age Pensioner! Poem by Denis Martindale

Now come two months that span between each overrated Halloween,
And Christmas carols yet to sing, and all the Christmas joys can bring.
Excitement gathers more and more in every single market's store,
Where decorations warm our hearts, though long before the season starts.
For Christmas gifts require gold, before a single gift gets sold,
And someone has to pay the price to grant a share of Paradise.
Remember how the prices soar, as if the stores want more and more,
Than all the past years we recall, when prices seemed a miracle?

The packaging may look the same, but increased wages, makers blame
Beyond my benefits, somehow, yet those same goods seem smaller now.
So many shoppers will regret each credit card that they must get!
Like Scrooge, to face the awful dread, yet spread the costs for months ahead.
The bachelors may smile and grin, on seeing married men can't win,
But one day they may fall in love, and learn they, too, don't earn enough.
So, pardon me if I remain a lonely man who can't complain,
Who lived alone and paid my way beyond the thrills each Christmas Day.

The big bills come and frighten me when the Winter snow brings misery,
I must stay here, chilled to the bone, within this house I share alone.
If I had married long ago, would my love melt the frozen snow?
Or pay the huge bills yet unseen beyond the chills of Halloween?
I've saved for many recent years, just for these months as Christmas nears,
I've paid my way, with cash to spare, but I'm still saying, Life's unfair!
I'll eat my Christmas chocolates! Pot Noodles in their plastic pots!
And thank God that I've paid my way! Alone again, on Christmas Day!


Denis Martindale.1st November 2025.
An artist known as Sergio loved comic books for sure,