Deaths And Births Poem by Denys E. W. Jones

As ever, many died last year:
Mandela, Thatcher, Lou Reed, Heaney,
Elmore Leonard, Banks, Achebe,
Hugo Chavez, Richard Briers... all laid on their funeral pyres.

And these so well-known people's deaths
Were fully covered by the press.
While certain famous babies' births
Were deemed to be attention worth.

A future king or sportsman's sprog -
Their advent holds us all agog.
But others come into this world
With no fanfare, no flags unfurled.

Be patient, wait, let some years pass,
They too may give us cause to gasp.
A child that's born in slum or shack
Is just as like the world to shake.

Your son's a prince? No guarantee
That he'll perform earth-shatt'ring deeds.
A girl that sleeps rough on the streets,
Could be the mother of a Great.

A Star, for either good or ill -
One who saves lives, or rapes and kills,
Who writes books, poems, paints or draws,
Who works for peace / unleashes wars.

Scores goals, breaks records, heals or harms,
Stands out in politics, art, sport,
But being still a babe in arms,
As yet gets not a moment's thought.

So those who died last year we'll mourn.
But while we do, let's not forget,
That many children too were born
Who in some field may prove the best.

Somewhere a future Saint or Witch
Is sucking at its mother's breast.

12/1/2014