Ninety Nine Percent

Teach me instead about peacetime,

the chaps who did not go to war,

the peasant folk who stayed at home,

who tilled the land and manned the store.

Tell me about the millions who

toiled ceaselessly, but left no mark.

The doormen of old neighbourhoods.

The fishermen out in the dark.

Spell out the history of small men

whose footsteps wore out cobblestones -

the mason, the cook, occupations

that did not involve crowns and thrones.

Speak of the ninety nine percent,

and tell me how their lives were spent.