Street Smart Poem by Kenneth Maswabi

The streets are not kind
With their pockets of criminals
And their reckless drivers
Out to cause havoc
And rob people of their dignity

The streets of life are crowded
Simmering with all kinds of attitudes
Brimming with a diversity of the human traits
With their varying IQs
And their competing needs
Sometimes colluding together
To manipulate the system
With their corrupt tendencies
And their insatiable appetite
Their obsessive desires to create wealth
And reconstruct their social status

Be street smart
Picking up opportunities like oranges
Not relying on your education alone
Reading the signs on the streets of life with ease
Always staying ahead of your peers
Soak in knowledge and dress yourself with wisdom
Address your basic needs and redress your wicked desires
Always trust in God and believe in yourself
Dig up your talents, and wash them clean
Polish and display them on the street corners

Opportunities are always present
Visible only to the wise
Waiting to be plucked from their tree
With the swiftness of a snake
And the audacity of a fox

Do not be restrained
Chained by the lure of a permanent job
With its dumb restrictions
And obsessiveness with month-end salary
Be street smart
And unchain your abilities
Unearthing your wisdom
To work the streets of life