My mum and dad’s wedding anniversary.

My mum and dad’s wedding anniversary.

Life is a vocation

For the serious minded

Not a gap year

Backpacking in the bush

Sleeping in hostels

Working on fruit farms

A field trip

To collect samples

Of Marble Crayfish

Population growth

A uni-sex self replicating

Environmental catastrophe

Makes a conversational

Space filler

To regale the guests

At a dinner party

Before the ribald stories

Of selfless sacrifice

Working nights in an understaffed

Poorly stocked hospital

In the midst of a war zone

High on speed and

Illegal alcohol

During the dog days

Before Chardonnay

In St John’s Wood

Pass the cocaine and canapes

Life is a gas

But no laughing matter

As helium is in short supply

Stick to your principles

In the rise

Ethics are tricky things

To disown

But morals can be lost

Without a compass

And are integral

To the maintenance

Of integrity

Honest endeavour is a must

For a just response to

Hard work

Take heed of your conviction

It may yet come

However, you should

Learn to decline

The temptation

To drink and drive

If you are serious enough

To perfect the art

Of survival.