John-Ward Leighton

POEM DREAMING

The images won’t go away
for which our beings
are brutalized each day.
Their call to action
is met by apathy
and the cynic’s lack of empathy.
The starving child
and gaunt Mom and Dad
it’s hard to imagine
that things are this bad.
Our tables groan
from the weight of food
but our souls
starve from our lack of good.

“What can we do?”
we say,
“These people are so far away.”
We look away
and change the channel
on the off chance
to see Paris Hilton
flashing her bird
without her pants.

But the picture won’t
fade,
for all
our scheming
our conscience won’t let go
and even with the sound off
we still hear them screaming
as mothers weep
with their children dying.

We drown in our excess
we gorge and greedily
reach for more
we have become consumptions
whore.
Houses full of food and things
our fat faces reflect our greed
so we can easily dismiss
those souls in need.

We have everything it seems
except the joy of dreams
and smiles on distant faces.
Where if we helped
those children would laugh
and play in brighter places
and live for a
much happier day.

They are our own
our kith and kin
they are on the journey
we walk as the family of man.
We must help
and do what we can.
There is a plan
to do the right thing
for which
the bards and poets will sing.
With just a little scheming
we can make it live
this…
poem dreaming.