Learned Helplesness! Poem by Leoul Mekonen

Passing through the eye of a needle
Hovering with wings in the sky,
The hopeless say “ it is impossible! ”
Lunatic! worthless to try.

For those who are bound by chain
Who carry the yoke of despair
Sentenced to live in pain,
Their humanity is questioned
All what they can show is blain.

Talking animals in the cage
Hilarious, funny creatures
They look at times sound and sane,
They echo what they are told
Parrots don’t have brain.

Fight or flight is unthinkable
Doors are walls for the entangled,
Imaginary wires are choking
It makes healthy arms disabled!

When the pain lingers and escalates
In absence of remedy,
The brutalised learn to accept
Not to fight back misery.

Escaping at times is a good defence
If not possible to fight back,
But fear is a maiming machine
Making limbs lame for resistance.

For those who are locked in a cage
Who couldn’t find the way out,
Who are shaped to stand idly,
Amputated spirit is the ghost
Venomous, worst opponent
The invisible enemy!

Doors are walls for the oppressed
They are blinded to see the way out
Chocked by illusive barbed wires,
They are defeated in advance.

For those who are thirsty of love
Seeking social inclusion
For those who have been on the margins
Facing social rejection
Day light becomes darkness,
Golden opportunities pass by
Possibilities perceived as barricades.

For those with amputated spirit
Chains of efforts wear them out
They say “It is not worth to try again”
Drowned by hopelessness
They believe they have nothing to gain.


For those whose self-image is damaged
Screwed! squashed! Victimized!
Courage has gone down to the abyss
Submissiveness become their merit,
Amen! Amen! They say, being hammered!


Fight or flight is unthinkable,
For those conditioned to give up
Decapitated soul is what they possess,
Those who are defeated in advance!



Written for people around the world who are compelled to be passive in the face of adversity and oppression.
April 2007