The Judgement of Strangers

I have a doctor friend

Who works with ailing kids

Plays football at the weekends

And chain smokes cigarettes at night

That's how he manages the stress

Of dealing with suffering kids

Stella's got a boss

Who likes his hand up her skirt

She's got rent and loans to pay

So she keeps a job she hates

But picks up men at the bar

She's reclaiming her sexuality

My friend, the wealthy banker

Carries a vial of cocaine

For those scary moments

When the numbers refuse to add up

These days, I see he's formed a habit

Of mixing his coke with X

Harry's the defendant’s lawyer

With a taste for all things grey

Five years with dangerous criminals

Has turned him from a jolly fellow

To the guy who prowls at night

For hookers, poppers and weed

Betty's been married for ten years

To a man her Daddy picked

She's got two kids and a dog

And drinks vodka from a tea cup

That's how she keeps from becoming

Her generation's Susan Smith

Peter's wife is pregnant

The doctor says its twins

The same doctor treats his mistress

She's expecting too

So when he's crying in church

Its not the spirit that drives him to

Ricky my friend the barman

Likes to laugh at others' misery

That’s to keep from thinking

About the two ex-wives

And his teenage lover boy

Who all wished him dead

My friend the school teacher

Has her shrink on speed dial

Still spends half her earnings

On psychics and fortune tellers

All of whom failed to predict

Her recent bankruptcy filing

Sitting at home, alone at night

With a bottle of single malt

I wonder and ask myself

Who has the right to judge  

The things we choose to do

To keep from going insane