We
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| Image credit: google:worldbengali.com |
We look to the roof-beams filled with soot
Wondering about the source of our next meals
Our children stopped playing
Now they sit idly saving energy
Our stories center around old good days
When we could collect locusts and cook them
We have learnt to make do without breakfast
Our story has been robbed of glory
Bland it is, brand others claim for themselves
Them
They look at their chandeliers and ceilings
Dreaming of even bigger bungalows
Eyes in the dreamy lands of beaches and yachts
Minds pegged on more serious things
Other than hunger and a killing or two
Of a lazy youth whose body caught a bullet
Why should it matter?
There are more serious things
Like how the currency rates are doing
The stock market
The consignment
Or some global issues like
Who appears in Forbes
Or cooling the mind in Seychelles
See, life should not be made dull
By some family who can’t find a decent meal
Or world should stop if roads are impassable
We are not EU, In fact, we should thank God
For
small mercies: Our forefathers were hunters
They could penetrate through forests, leave
alone
Well-beaten roads!
C) Lorot Salem 2011
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3 comments:
Oh this is such a profound look through other eyes! Yes, some think of food and hunger, while others look at their chandeliers, hung in their monster houses...........so well written, Salem! Such imbalance in this world, where no one need go hungry if we could only finally get it right!
Amazing; the kind of priorities we hold dear depending on our station in life. I love the sharp contrasts and the hints at sarcasm. You, Lorot, are a gifted writer on social issues. The rest of us trod the emotional path that is perhaps more scenic than grappling with social imbalance. lovely piece. :-)
@ Sherry Blue Sky, Koko, some few Kiswahili lessons. To say thank you in Kiswahili: "asante".
Asante, koko.
@ Lyrical Assassinatrix,thank you for stopping by. You are my kindred soul in matters poetry. You also write terrifically. You stand on a tall building, aim at our hearts, cock and release and "assassinatrix's" bullet. Clinical, bloodless and efficient.
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