Myth has it that the riches of the rich are good for all the people
And such a fable has got so many performances that it’s easy
To be swayed into thinking that it’s just the truth.
But when I see the eyes of the poor, aloof in their bare poverty,
And I compare their gazes with the personal greed and moral
Shamelessness of most of the rich, I feel disgust rise inside my soul
And I feel I share the closest brotherhood with the poorest of the poor.
Will I ever describe all this? Maybe I do, but you have to listen to me:
Don’t chase me away like ash carried off by the wind.
For this, as a novel bard, like a departing boat I’ll go
Crossing bridge after bridge, wiping away a few burning tears while
Conjuring up the face I had when I first came up.
Can you hear? Like messengers from too far away
Words wax and wane, telling of an unfair and meaningless world,
Revealing uncanny private realities and making all my fears naked.
Novel bard, I’ll sing about life, but
Only to realize I don’t know what it means to actually save
This present time and any possible future.
Because the world has no more miracles to show —And it represents
The most painful betrayal.
I agree with your thoughts on poverty and riches. How could I not? A photo that is just right and so true. In my country, the media fawn over wealthy people, producing 'rich lists' from time to time- never poor lists. I think that wealthy people, like Bill Gates and Charles Heeney, who give away large sums of money to charity and the poor, are the admirable ones. You can be very wealthy, and still be a good person.
right, Michael. A very wealthy person is not necessary a bad person. The ones you mentioned are not. Yet, to become so wealthy, a large number of such people made the largest use of a 'perverse system', built to allow the rich to become richer and richer, while the poor, poorer and poorer..
So very real and powerful! This is a very nice piece of poetry and many kudos. Ever grateful and thankful to you for our collaboration Fabrizio. I never forget. I am so swamped with projects that I did not find time to write anything worthwhile about the new poetic undertaking of yours. Next time. God bless you. Lots of hugs from Athens. Cheers!
thank you, dear Sofia for your nice words. Understand the situation you described.. next time, ok? a bear hug! :)
thank you for sharing this lovely poem. This inequality is a growing cause of anger and distrust felt by more and more people. Though the problem is many sided and tackling it will need some new thought process and hard and sincere work but raising voice against it is as important as any this else. And it is the responsibility of all able to speak or write about it.
dear Savita, your are perfectly right: ''inequality is a growing cause of anger and distrust felt by more and more people'' - all of us have the responsibility - the obligation - to try changing this highly unfair situation. If we do not fulfill our duty we will fail as human beings.
The vast gap between the rich and poor, when a section of people are in so much luxury and do not know what to do with their property while other section are dying due to poverty, not getting two meals a day, no shelter, no clothes.no education, no medicine, it is really a shame on humanity.It is also a challenge before the civilized society to make equitable distribution of wealth, to lessen the gap between rich and poor, between developed countries and developing countries.Thanks Fabrizio making us a call on this issue with your poem to ponder and draw attention of major players who can bring about a change and find a solution
thank you Bharati. You say, '' it is really a shame on humanity''. Yes, it is. Problem is that the gap is growing and growing.. because politics -worldwide- is unfair and biased toward a part of humanity, also because of the lobbying brought on by that 1%! We can use our voice, even if it is not a powerful voice, to say aloud that politics has to be changed!
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Nice poem about the poor and rich
thank you so much, dear Rini