Last evening the power went off
It happened so everyday
The mornings bright are dulled by the loss
For the brightness you lose everyday
The public strangulated with problems galore
Are rejected along with their right to live
The rich in power enjoy everything free…
The poor struggle to survive everyday
Many are run over on footpaths, on roads
Driven to death by rogues and ‘rich’ drunken drivers
Not a word of sympathy do they offer
When someone comes in their way
The attorneys are ‘blessed’ with money
To shield their lives the loopholes are many
The bereaved family cries for justice and peace
He is hushed and bushed by rules of the road
The rich can ignore the rules?
Our country is great the rich are blessed
The poor suffer the storms of life
A whiff of the wind their branches are wrecked
The rich enjoy their life
All’s not well that ends not well
Life’s knot is snapped in two.
This stormy life this earthy life
Rests on the laurels of the poor
The storm that rises in the hearts of the poor
Is worse than the storm outside
The dead conscience of the rich will
Burn forever in the hearts of the poor
The Satan within and the Satan without
Will steal your sleepy conscience forever
~Shobha Diwakar
Jabalpur, India
It’s a simple idea put forth beautifully in a poetic form. It’s very true though everyone talks of the deteriorating condition of the poor people it seems to be just mere lip synching for hardly anything is being done for their betterment & welfare. Many projects must be there but they lack in execution & as Pt Nehru said, ‘Thoughts without execution is an abortion of them [thoughts]’ hence these projects only on paper are useless & senseless. The rich have been ruling & will continue to do so as if they alone have the right to live!