Until When? Poem by Francois GUIMATSIA

Desertification causes great calamities,
Floods destroy entire villages and cities;
But the poor are to blame, cynically.

Youths in their quest for greener pastures,
Get killed in their migration adventures;
And people blush and sob, hypocritically.

Corruption constantly fosters despair,
And fattens its many apostles everywhere;
Its victims starve to death, irresistibly.

Public utilities, run-down and crumbling,
Are built on contracts got through bribing;
A crime acknowledged, uncomplainingly.

Visionless leaders and their sycophants
Exploit old conflicts or their remnants;
The fact is known and condoned, hopelessly.

The police repress peaceful demonstrators
Just like wild animals or violent agitators;
The world counts the dead, absent-mindedly.