by Cliff Beck.
Feeling the pain of injustice and loss
tears run hot in the tracks
etched into your face
as you trudge through a desolate space
hunched against a world that doesn’t care
and ignores the despair which cuts to the bone
trapping you in congealed emotion;
disconnected, bereft and alone.
You feel their stares like the glare of a spotlight
that finds you guilty of your plight
and long to hide in the shadows
nourishing your pain with anguish and shame,
fearing you will never cope
as lady luck shape shifts
in a heartless dance with protean hope.
But consider this ……
Whatever our hopes and dreams
the webs of silver spoons and genes,
lucky breaks and lottery wins
that dame fortune spins
bring chimeric success to some but not to all
and if the dice fail to fall for you
are you really the one to blame
for the prevailing order of things
which allows the self-serving to pull the strings
and dine at the top table
while others muck out their Augean stable.
Yet while they dominate, defraud and deceive
in a pyrrhic race to succeed
life continues on its way
as the dawn chorus spreads delight at the break of day,
sunlight dispels the shadows,
ice melts, and babbling brooks flow.
Precious memories which even grief cannot defile
make us pause, smile
and give thanks for fleeting moments of joy
as we nurture each one lovingly
planting it in the garden to grow
into a smile for a nervous child,
a bright hello for a neighbour laden with woe,
a chat with the old man in the ground floor flat,
or a helping hand for a stranger in a strange land
still struggling to understand
that there are better ways,
and there will be better days.
