They were the cheated generation:
Young between two wars
Then trapped in promises
Of better times to come,
Stuck by green stamps
That pledged fair shares,
Unprepared to take
Before the cost could be met,
Watching their modest ambitions
Slip through the net,
Knowing the fickleness of politicians
Was no worse than the misguided idealism
Of those who believed the Kingdom of Man on earth
Could be sown by a state.
Now old and livid, displaced,
Resenting the lies and the cries
Of the dismal young,
They drift on a raft in a darkening sea,
Watching firm friendships grow fainter
In a world desperate to defy destiny.

Len Webster

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/on-the-rubbish-dump-of-a-century/