The Paper Sea

I went to work for welfare in hopes to help the poor
The staff showed me a desk and introduced me to the war
They warned me that the battle started right outside the door
And they fought it on the paper sea

They were thirty social workers, forty-seven clerks
Twenty-seven managers all gumming up the works
Three inspectors from the legislature excersizing perks
Barracudas in the paper sea

There were countless regulations, rulebooks by the score
Explaining every policy and system tried before
The money spent on paperwork left nothing for the poor
Abandoned on the paper sea

There were seven hundred forms could be applied to every case
To account for every penny, number, name or date or place
The clerks were working overtime but never keeping pace
With the waves upon the paper sea

Why these endless papers, administers, and more?
All to guarantee there was no cheating by the poor
While for every dollar saved we spent a hundred on the chore
Of adding to the paper sea

Outside in the hallway, the poor folk had to wait
The line stretched down the block, coming early, leaving late
Maybe one poor soul per hour ever made it through the gate
Past the boundaries of the paper sea

First came in a man who didn't have a cent
I filled out twenty forms to guarantee his check was sent
By the time it reached his address he was gone for lack of rent
Well serviced by the paper sea

Next came in a mother, abandoned by her man
She said, "Get me some daycare, and I'll find what work I can."
But daycare was too controversial for our family plan
We marooned her in the paper sea

As I walked in one morning, I stumbled on an arm
Attached to some poor body who had clearly come to harm
While waiting for his Medicare, his heart had bought the farm
We had drowned him in the paper sea

I told my supervisor. He said, "Let's be discreet
Just stick the body out the door and leave it on the street
And then it's not our problem, but the cop's out on the beat
Let's dump him in their paper sea."

I tried to make the system work, I tried to help the poor
I struggled through the paperwork and might have taken more
But that's the final straw that sent me screaming out the door
Sent me running from the paper sea
I'd had it with the paper sea!