Did you every wonder, as you walk along the street,

Just who lives in those houses, standing there so neat?

Behind each of those front doors there's a story to be told

Of happiness or of heartache, just waiting to unfold.

Who lives behind those curtains of elegant white lace?

Did you see the curtains move, did you see the face?

A lonely little lady with flimsy snow white hair

Watching, waiting, wondering, is there anybody there?

Last night she had a visitor, but not someone she knew

The thief came in her bedroom and stood there in full view.

He knew that she was all alone and laughed out in her face

He took the things he wanted, then vanished without trace.

She lay there trembling like a leaf, traumatised by fear

This was her second burglary since her husband died last year.

In a house just round the corner, someone else lives all alone

Listening to pop music, in his bedroom, on his own.

He's a young lad, in his teenage years, hardly out of school,

He has no need to go to work, "Cos he's nobody's fool!"

Last week, while his parents slept, he was out, making his money

"Easy pickings, silly old bag, Jesus it was funny."

This thief feels no sense of guilt, he thinks that wrong is right

He has no comprehension of the strife he caused last night.

What has happened to society, that we breed fiends like these?

Could it be our own attitude, or is it a disease?

This look after number one approach, these greedy, selfish trends

Have they rubbed off on our children, can we ever make amends? By Mr B Derbyshire

Ribchester Grove

Bolton.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.