A Hungry Bear Doesn’t Dance

By Turlough
- 150 reads
A Hungry Bear Doesn’t Dance
He built your railway lines and roads
She spun your cotton, sewed your clothes
He gave his life to fight your wars
She dressed your wounds and scrubbed your floors
He hewed your coal and forged your steel
She sweated blood for every meal
In hovels plagued by rats and fleas
They suffered every known disease
Your purse grew fat but you forgot
To throw the pennies in their pot
Tools laid down; labour withdrawn
As they recognised that they were pawns
In your avaricious game of chance
And a hungry bear just doesn't dance
Note:
‘A hungry bear doesn't dance’ (Гладна мечка хоро не играе - Gladna mechka khoro neh igraya) is an old Bulgarian proverb meaning that a person cannot work if his or her basic needs aren’t met first.
Image:
My own photograph of the headstocks at Caphouse Colliery near Wakefield, which was closed in 1985 and is now part of the National Coal Mining Museum for England.
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Comments
A wonderful IP response
A wonderful IP response Turlough, and as true now as it was when the mine in your photo was a working one. Have you ever read Germinal by Zola?
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I've read quite a few of the
I've read quite a few of the Rougon-Macquart series, although not all 20 ! My favourites are Germinal and Au Bonheur des Dames (which the BBC tv series The Paradise was based on).
I remember particularly the scenes in Germinal when the miners are on strike and they have nothing left literally, every stick of furrniture has been sold. One woman has nothing left to sell except her body so she sleeps with the butcher to feed her children.
That's a very good spot Claudine, and Turlough has brilliantly illustrated the poverty, unfairness and desperation of such a situation. I know we're all complaining about the price of food and petrol, but we'll never be in such circumstances ourselves. (Hopefully).
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It doesn't have to be like this
There's always going to be suffering, with diseases and droughts and earthquakes and other natural disasters.
But so much suffering is completely unnecessary, that's what makes my blood boil. This current war of choice is an obvious example, but just in recent years we've had Sudan, Yemen, Gaza and Ukraine. Absolutely none of it needs to have happened.
If all the money in the world that is spent on 'defence' was spent instead on education, housing and health what a paradise this world would be.
I don't know what the answer is. Personally all I can do is give money to charities to help those already suffering, and try to vote in politicians that I don't think will be war mongers.
I took a decision a long time ago not to have children. I know it seems an extreme attitude, but based on the evidence I've seen in my lifetime we're a horrible species and the sooner we die out the better for the planet. And we're certainly going the right way about it.
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'Buddy can you spare a dime'
'Buddy can you spare a dime' was that call to recognise what was and is the rabid relations of class warfare. We lost. I'm a fan of Germinal too. Zola at his best.
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I collect
proverbs and saws, although I'm no carpenter, so I'm always pleased to read a new one. You've used this one very well.
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Congratulations, this today's Pick of the Day, 30th March 2026
A fine poem, with sentiments which will chime with many readers - and that's why it's today's Social Media Pick of the Day.
Please do share it on your own social media pages/accounts/et cetera if you can.
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