Dire Circumstances Poem by John Sensele

The honour to help and serve the weak blesses
Generous hands in dire circumstances
When the going gets tough in low places.

Christianity through its tenets stresses
Sharing meagre resources with the poor through many donor conferences.
The honour to help and serve the weak blesses.

Warmongering among merchants of death displaces
Families, men, women and children with lances
That prick domestic routines when the going gets tough in low places.

In a world filled with hostility and bestiality, surfaces
With a plethora of empathy appear in fewer instances.
The honour to help and serve the weak blesses.

Tired of ceaseless flights from gunfire, a refugee caresses
Her gaunt son's face in Lesbos and balances
Precariously in a leaking dinghy when the going gets tough in low places.

A displaced woman hardly cares for tresses
On her unkempt head that has travelled long distances.
The honour to help and serve the weak blesses
When the going gets tough in low places.