~reparations * Poem by Adeline Foster

~ Reparations *

There is a lovely word called reparation-
Lovely, but lonely for few have heard
Or ever used this lovely word.
So its value is lost on a generation
Who have seldom heard of reparation.

They set up a committee for investigation,
Find the cause and lay the blame,
So everyone else can do the same.
All that effort at accusation
Could better be used on reparation.

Finding the cause is not half the solution,
If most people think that the job is done
When the project, in fact, has just begun;
And everyone shares in the obligation,
To help with the chore of reparation.

Everyone decries the rate of inflation,
Then spend their money on gambling and such,
And say the government's taking too much;
But they dip their hand into gratulation.
That's not the road to reparation.

Everyone's heard of divorce and separation,
Yet think it'll never happen to them;
And, when it does, the other's to blame.
Few ever come to the realization,
That marriage takes mutual reparation.

Some look for answers in innovation-
Violently calling for violence to cease,
Chanting refrains of love and peace;
But fail to see their manifestation
Is in simple acts of reparation.

This word may be nearing annihilation;
Shall we let it pass off the scene?
Is there no one to intervene
And shout its virtue across the nation
Before it's too late for reparation?

*Reparation - the act of making repairs and/or amends.