No Matter Who Poem by Diana van den Berg

No matter who
you are,
the call
is there
whisper-waiting,
unrelenting,
echo-adamant.

Most don’t know it.
Many won’t admit it.
Some deny it,
deride it,
despise it.

The word
that names our greatest craving,
is not lust
nor love
nor even respect.

What we all hunger after
more than anything
since each of us began,
is
for
people
all people -
any people -
one person -
to
care.

(4 February 2011)