Maarten van de Loo: Deaf sentence

 Listen how this fellow, getting older
 thought he would never be in strife.
 Fit and strong and a little bolder, 
 having posted the decades up to five,
 he couldn’t hear his wife. 
 
 ‘What is the matter now with you? listen!’
 ‘Yes, I do,
 if you play too!’
 
 ‘Ayeeeeh! What d’ya saaay?’
 that’s the cry the deaf man cries
 but who will play?
 
 Will they try, speak up for fun and laughter shared?
 move lips and love more dearly
 those who are impaired?
 
 Or just plod on the same old fashion,
 ignore pleas for compassion,
 ill feelings to be aired?
 
 Oh! How will this crazy world
 slow down and stop the rattle,
 enunciate, try hard, try harder
 for those who battle
 ill feelings so quickly hurled.
 
 ‘I’m hearing impaired’, the deaf man says
 to shop assistant, teller, any feller,
 ‘please play!’
 What happens? They only say,
 ‘that’s OK’.
 
 But do they?  Slow down, show some empathy?
 understanding, cooperation, sympathy?
 really want to communicate?
 ‘To me you can’t sell mate, if you can’t relate!’
 
 So on I plod, to read their lips conscientiously,
 embarrassing ladies young and old
 for focussing so strenuously
 on beauty they so richly hold.
 
 ‘Ah, but wait’, when in good company
 we share anecdotes,
 fun and laughter, jokes.
 It’s the same old story for deaf old blokes
 ‘don’t know why you laugh mate, hope it’s not taboo.
 I’ll join in ignorance and laugh too!’
 
 So life goes on, smile, be happy, there is no measure;
 bird song, koala grunt, kookaburra calls are past.
 No good moaning, no one listens, just treasure things that last