Mickey Dalton was quite well-known

an exceptional character of particular note

he charmed or bemused the beholder

playing the gent or acting the goat

 

for proverbial urination

Mickey hadn’t a pot or a bowl

but was always impeccably turned out

whenever he collected his dole

 

in fresh pressed suit and bowler hat

and a flower in his lapel

he marched with any creed on walking day

that dandy-dressed ne’er-do-well

 

Wiganers either knew or knew of him

Mickey Dalton was a household name

his biography featured in the Wigan Observer

such was his infamous fame

 

in his garden I saw him in his prime

whiling away the day and the hours

Josef Locke playing on a wind-up gramophone

as he watered his bright plastic flowers

 

regrettably and unfortunately though

his bite was worse than his bark

and he suddenly lost much favour

when the dandy became a police nark