In The Island Poem by Elizabeth Padillo Olesen

Amidst the coral, the reef, the sea
Amidst the crowd of folks, of farmers
and fishermen like me
Amidst their dirty faced children
and tiny huts, we see ourselves
stranded in the island of lost paradise.

For who brought this abundance
to this green island?
Who sowed this seed of innocense
to find their want amidst abundance?
Who took away their blood, their life?

And yet at one end of this island
is a place, set in a pedestal
where those who don't labor at all
laze around and live
in mighty abundance.
And those below their might
only find themselves
dreaming
for a once-lost paradise.