Hello To The Innocence Of Children Poem by EZEKIEL HARUNA DANBAKI

No!
I did not come to interrupt your sweet voyage
No, not again these morbid pictures on your Polished screen
I have only come to say 'how do you do? '

Life's alley is narrow, peopled by all of us
Fate is the fat man, congesting the way
Some get through, some are trampled
Others get stuffy and run out of breath
But while the struggle lasts and you are gentle
And you see a young heart wearing an old face
With a soul that burns twice faster than his age
When you see, in the heat of day or in the cold of night-
A frail face, beaten by adversity
Say hello- say hello if you can
Say hello to the lost kids who never made it home
Say hello to the children who cry in hunger pangs
Say hello to the children without a home
But the streets to roam
Hello to those who were never shown a school
But the trigger to pull
Say hello, say it slowly. The world will not hear
The world is noisy, busy offering ovations to repeated feats
And don't care about gentler forces
Like forgiveness
Like kindness
Like love that traverses class and race
Like the innocence of children
.
Sometimes, when I am alone,
I cry for you ghetto child-
Poor child
Drowned in the pool of innocence
Lost in the dense fumes of humanity
Walking down indifferent streets
Head casts down,
Eyes searching for the penny of a lucky day
Scrawny arms,
Reaching out daily for survival crumbs-
This morning I looked through your anguish
I read stories from deep down your soul-Poor soul
Victim of helplessness, tortured by circumstance
The wars that erupted,
The bullets that flew,
The blades that swiped
Took the two that bore you
And the world has not another pair to give you
You didn't ask to be born, but was
You don't wish to die, but…
Your journey has been long
Your wound has been fatal
And I feel pain in my heart
I wish to alleviate the suffering
But I cannot, our song is same
I too have suffered- tortured by the things i see
Society is weak
Our trills have been loud
Humanity is failing
We've cried that too
We watch with belated gazes
Histories write themselves in inks of pain and tragedy
But you see, despite the odds
With each other, we can make a bigger better whole
We can lock hands and attempt a dance
We can sing songs composed against the tragedies of today
We can say hello and pray for a heaven-
A far away haven
Away from wars that kill and impoverish
Away from terror
Away from hate and greed
Away from here
To far away there
A place to find peace and rest and happiness
May be now
May be then
But surely when God says hello