Expatriate Poem by JAMES T. ADAIR

Some meaning to do right do wrong
are not so noble as they pretend
their choices they cannot really defend
they're just living with blinders on

Ignorance is bliss
But you can't ignore anymore
what's at your door
If you do, you may be remiss

When young girls shop in Qatar or Dubai
and buy shoes and dress
While their home country is a mess
They're living a lie

When your babies are second thoughts
and you choose the haves
and not the have-nots
You cooly decide to abandon your tots

You say you its OK
But you Know deep down that its not
Its doom you really brought
Choosing to live that way

When the thugs take over
The schools and the churches
And even the birds have flown from their perches
Its not the time to run and seek greener clover

You don't abandon your house
and take the easy way out
or sit from afar and pretend to worry about
You don't run and hide like a mouse

See if you do you're really a louse
You stay and fight
Strive day and night
And don't abandon your spouse

You point out the abusers
and name them by name
you bring them to shame
and identify them as losers

You rally your friends and arm to the britches
you pick up your axes
and refuse to pay unfair taxes
and you fight the oppressors, the sneaks and the snitches

And if you do nothing you deserve what you get
If you stand by and watch as your country is dying
and hungry orphans in the street are crying
Nobody ever went swimming without getting wet

Listen clearly to the lies passed as stories
The honest ones are the ones you see crying
The most honest are dying
While the selfish have passed on the worries

While expatriates pat themselves on their back
for their diplomas and seeking of plenty
Their lives are in fact empty
And they're never really going 'back'

The only 'back' they'll have is the back they turned
While their homeland wasted and decayed
Missing all the moments their children played
One day they'll be spit upon and spurned

I tell you go home and make the best
Don't sit there and talk
Be bold and walk the walk
That will be a true test

I can no longer stand by
why you strive to justify
and give me Your reasons why
while mothers poison their children and cry

Did you ever stop to ask them why?
Instead of pretending to be shy
when in your heart you can't reconcile
a life that's been a lie

2008 © James T. Adair