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Help!
We hear the call loud and clear
and keep away because of fear
Peering through curtain and blind
pulled ever slightly, the wife or husband standing behind
still, as we hear the call
Help!
The child comes to the door
"We are selling candies for our school."
"Not today," we say, eyes to the floor
with shame and feelings disgraced
But knowing horror stories of candies laced
wisely ignored the request for
Help!
There on sidewalks, streets, the subway
begging and cajoling, aggressively or in dismay
Their eyes tell their individual story
- of hurt, abuse, poverty and worry
- to sanitize our actions and minds, devoid
- of the responsibility for those seeking
Life goes on. They remain perpetually
- fixtures on our landscape everyday
90% at the bottom hope and pray: "I. Me,"
may never have to lament for
Help!
Today it's him or her
- friend, stranger or neighbor
It's not that we do not care
It's the reality of a fear
- of repercussion, threat, retribution, or a telephone call
- that prevents us to be involved
- when we hear the plea for
They fail themselves, family, friends, with tears
Self esteem eroded lost over the years
The bottom 90% swelling, the 1% smiling
The in-between surely disappearing
Less government some demand
while the plight of the wretched gets out of hand
Charities are larger, churches ask for more.
But ...
Neither government, charity or church cures the growing sore
- that grows bigger
- yearning for responses to the cry for
Poem from if only the gods were awake by Gary Girdhari, A Guyana
Journal Publication, New York, USA, May 2011.
We Are (Not) Involved! Gary Girdhari |
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Gary, a Guyanese-
American living in
New York, is the
Editor and Publisher
of the Guyana Journal.
Trained in the
natural sciences, he
ventured into the
world of poetry in the
mid-1990s.
His poems in if only
the gods were awake
were written over
several years. They
speak to nostalgic
feelings, emotions
and love, nature and
society, war and
peace, and
philosophy.
American living in
New York, is the
Editor and Publisher
of the Guyana Journal.
Trained in the
natural sciences, he
ventured into the
world of poetry in the
mid-1990s.
His poems in if only
the gods were awake
were written over
several years. They
speak to nostalgic
feelings, emotions
and love, nature and
society, war and
peace, and
philosophy.
What is life if we do not care? if we are mute out of fear? To stand idle and just stare is failure I do declare. "My Psalm of Life" by Gary Girdhari from if only the gods were awake, May 2011 |