Absolutely Nothing
By Paul M., Fredericksburg, VA
The Colombian Indian loses the sacred land
On which his ancestorsdwelled
The spirit, the beauty, the sacred lost forever
Upon their evictionfor the oil well
The Kalahari rancher looks upon the apatheticsunset
As the crisp, orange sky has yet to shed its tears
The sea of dusktosses, its waves made of thirsts never quenched
As a single drop of rain hasnot fallen for days, for months, for years
The skeletal Masai wander thevulture-clad steppe
The last bits of diseased livelihood withering as vaporinto the parching heat
Another falls, his last thoughts not desire ofluxury, or of greed, but of desire for what he needs
His family gone,his life starved to futility, his legacy becomes that on which hyenaswill feed
Drops of water, a morsel for elixir
Shelter from the wrathof the existence
A plot of land, a site to nourish the soul
The basics,the bare essentials, the needs.
A damaged car or a business deal gonewrong
A robbery, a power outage, or an airport delay too long.
When all ofthis is measured to one who has the desire
For a mere morsel of food tocontinue another day in a struggling existence,
something's saidabout all the small things: Absolutely Nothing.
Absolutely Nothing matterswhen you think of the whole
The sanctuary of shelter, the elixir ofwater
The replenishment of food, the purity of the soul
All that needs tobe met in the grand scheme of existence
The next time you think you needto complain, think again
To our scale, there are valid problems, which may belegit
But when another's problem is survival, you can't throw a fit
Thelevel of desire can never outweigh the level of need.
When Point A toPoint B is making sure there's another day to see,
When a dying thirst is ahabit, where a place to be is a need,
When the components of living are inneglect, and hunger is lingering
Your petty problems can amount toonly this: Absolutely nothing
|
