ramblings and things

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Cowboy Builder

It was caused by inexperience
Tackling a job beyond their skill
And in the construction trade such
Mistakes can and do so often kill.
 
A Cowboy builder the Coroner had
Said, not a nice remark to make:
Death is one hell of a price to pay
For having made just one mistake.
Accidental Death the Verdict, with
Those remarks added as a rider
And so a good man was condemned
To any unknowing outsider.
Nobody stood up and said
He'd worked hard all his life
Proud of what he'd achieved
For his much loved wife.
 
No claims for Benefit
No use of the Welfare State
Just good hard graft
To keep him and his mate.
I talked with his widow
Held her hand as she cried
Felt so out of my depth
As she talked of suicide. 
Over the months
As she grew a little stronger;
The time between my visits
Grew longer and longer,
 
And it happens that
We grew out of touch.
It's so easy to fail 
By not doing very much.
In time she'd recovered and 
Became another man's wife,
And, just  as he would have wanted
Got on again with her life.
The last time I saw her
We talked of our old days
How our lives had changed
As we'd gone our different ways.
 
We remembered him fondly
And how he'd paid for his mistake
And then we said goodbye 
And good luck for old times sake.
He was a good man and a dreamer
For a while put under the shade
By those unfeeling remarks that a
Maybe harassed coroner had made.
 
But to me he'll always be
My lost, quiet, unassuming friend.
 A very high achiever whose ambitions
Very sadly killed him in the end.

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Cowboy Builder