Where Was The World When They Died? Poem by Eunice Masumbuko
Where Was The World When They Died?
A scary world it is
When one is walking alone
In poverty, sorrow and segregation
Nothing to eat, naked bodied
So fragile and vulnerable.
We toil all day and all night
But get nothing from the sweat.
Nothing but jeer and hunger
And an emptiness from deep within
What it needs, we all know...
A little love!
The little love we will never feel
If the world remains this silent
At the time of our deepest need.
The world has turned its back on us
It is deeply engrossed in its riches
Earning more, living luxuriously
While we burn in the furnace of its selfishness.
Hundreds are weak but pushing
Thousands lie on their deathbeds
millions have died
Where was the world when they died?
I'm the Minnesotan friend who gave Fabrizio the term POEM OF WITNESS for this type of poem which looks at current social events with a moral focus and finds our modern society needs substantive reform to ease, even eliminate human suffering. The term Poem of Witness was coined by the American poet Carolyn Forche who felt the previous term Political Poetry was too limiting and even misleading. The best thing I can say about your poem is this: If I could somehow send a copy to Carolyn Forche she would applaud your writing, and perhaps include it in her next anthology of World Poetry.
I can hear your voice in the poem, very pained. Your tone so hard... The world needs to hear this, but I pray for your people my friend. God bless you
a poem of witness, my Minnesotan friend Daniel Brick would say. And it is kind of poetry we need a lot to read (and write about, dear fellow poets) . Thanks for sharing, Eunice
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/26/2024 3:39:53 PM # 1.0.0.1119
this is the beginning or your poem in Italian: Dov’era il mondo quando loro morivano? Il mondo è spaventoso Quando si cammina da soli Nella povertà, nel dolore, nella segregazione Quando non si ha da mangiare, con la nudità dei corpi Così fragili e vulnerabili. the full text in the Anthology e-book