Crammed Into That Boat Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

No one knows,
A personal experience...
To live through it.
Or can imagine the feeling,
If repeatedly to hear...
Heard to describe vividly told.

A wanting to have immediately back,
The comfort and ease of a normalcy.
With it returned the way it was.
Taking that which had been done,
For granted.
Hoping a sigh of relief,
Restores a temporary unbearable grief.

And this these days,
Facing sacrifices enforced.
Seems a thankless and thoughtless,
Way for anyone to live.
Just to have what it is to wish and want.
Done as if,
With a snap of fingers...
Magically appears a waiter,
Listening to what is requested.
Whether rare or well prepared to receive.

Yet...
Told there may be some adjustments made.
Some have discovered,
Not easily to adapt or accept the changes.
Requiring patience and tolerance,
To whatever comes.
With a possibility to remain that way.

So many have been crammed into that boat.
Suddenly and not provoked.
Almost as if from a dream to a nightmare.
Quickly stripped from a life to live it.
And shipped like animals.
To a distant shore.
Abandoned and treated to be human beings,
No more.
Without warning.
Or time to prepare for impressions to make.

And...
Ignored are words heard about status.
Possessions or homes left,
Repossessed along with pretensions kept.

What an existence.
What an effective long lasting...
Demonstration of what the unknown can be.
Especially if the price paid for it,
Is losing one's dignity.
And the worthless value placed...
On demanding back a life of delusion.
Without truth or reality,
Warned to prepare for its coming!

"I understand what you are saying.
But, listen to me...
Do you know who I am? "

-Yes, I do.
Now...
Do you prefer,
To swim, float...
Or cram into the boat? -

"I don't know those...folks! "

-Give it time.
And you will discover,
To have more in common...
Than kept pretensions have not.-