40: Jokers

I was talking to Mrs Ear Trike about Mr Rare Kites, when Mr Teak Riser butted in on behalf of Sir Marketer, who works for Mr Risk Eater – to my mind anyway. “Where’s Mr Kit Eraser?” he said to me, “He’s been neglecting his duties; he’s like the invisible man.” [Song for Lady MacBeth] Letdown ======= You said there’d be green pastures And a cabin by the lake You said there’d be canapés And mimosas on Cornish slate You said I’d be able to wear a radiant foil crown, Jewelled knee pads And ride a silver skate board You said the ashes would be presented in a polished ebony urn At a special ceremony at the Ministry of Sound You said there’d be a special pen I could use To write on trees You said there’d be soca in the jukebox
And salmon in the stream You said you would have drained the batteries in all the forklift trucks And rusted all the nails in the pallets At least an hour before lunch You said I’d be able to wear my lime green dress shirt With the lilac buttons and clapperboard cufflinks You said there’d be four jokers in this pack And the kings would be removed You said I’d be able to slide on my knees Down that bank on the eighteenth hole And when I landed face down in the bunker You said, the sand would be edible And taste of kelp sherbet You said there’d be no more lead in the ice cream And no more arsenic in the acorns But you lied. You let me down. None of what you said turned out to be true None of it held water None of it played out The duck bore no feathers The tanks held no oxygen The pop had no fizz The sponge had no spring in it The men had no standing The mines had collapsed 
The voucher had expired And I don't forgive you Probably never will You've been such a letdown You let down me, You've let down yourself, You've let down the class, You've let down the town, the whole town And the county Everyone in the county is so, so bitterly argry with you And it's not OK.