Are you a person who believes in superstitions,
Or one who believes every “old wives” tales you hear,
If you do you are not a very rational thinker,
Which could cause you many moments filled with fear.

Superstition has been defined as a false worship or religion,
An ignorant and irrational belief in a supernatural agency,
A general belief which is deep rooted but unfounded,
Silly ideas which have no relevance to you or me.

They say it is lucky if a black cat crosses your path,
How this could be is rather puzzling to me,
If it runs in front of you whilst driving it can’t be lucky,
If in swerving to miss it you crash into a tree.

How many people do you know who touch wood hoping for success,
As though this action could affect the outcome in any way,
And those people who believe you will wash your luck away,
If you hang your washing out on New Years Day.

Others believe it is unlucky to have a picture of a bird in the house,
This sounds like a load of hogwash to me,
For if there was any truth in this superstition,
It would be unlucky to have a robin on the Christmas Tree.

If a crow lands on the chimney it is a portent,
That someone living in the houses is about to die,
If this was true the number of deaths would be enormous,
Since this rarely happens it is obvious the saying is a lie.

In the western world the number thirteen is said to be unlucky,
In eastern cultures the belief is that the unlucky number is four,
There is no fourth floor in any hospital in China or Japan ,
In Paris there is no house with number thirteen on the door.

In Canary Wharf there is a floor twelve and a floor fourteen,
There is no other numbered floor in between,
Knowing that many people are superstitious,
The builders were concerned about using the number thirteen.

Then again some folk say that disasters always come in threes,
If two misfortunes occur there is bound to be a third,
Whilst it might be true that this sometimes happens,
To believe that it will always happen is totally absurd.

I would certainly never walk under a ladder,
Not because it is unlucky, but because it is good advice,
You never know what might fall upon you,
After all a tin of paint wouldn’t be very nice.

I believe that the word luck has a pagan origin,
That our luck is not influenced by any superstitious thing we might do,
Until I get the proof that these sayings are realistic,
I will continue to ignore them, and I hope you will do so too