Skip to main content
Abandoned

They sit on the platform discarded,
dejected, rejected like junk, 
by a society which couldn’t care less 
unwilling to sort out this mess. 
Refugees or street people, who knows,
no labels, no forwarding address
Lost or forsaken, mistaken for trash
carelessly pushed by a dirty broom
a clean sweep to make room - 
for what?

Bundles and bags are clutched to their side,
lifelines or anchors to lives they hardly recall,
and some  of them have no memory at all
of the families they lost or left behind 
in this perilous race for their life - 
degradation has hi-jacked their minds.

People pass by, noses in the air
discussing this blight on their nation,
loudly, as if no-one was there -
humanity cluttering up their station.
They point to a sign, piously proud:
don’t litter, don’t loiter, no waiting allowed.

They huff at society’s failings 
blindly railing against the laws
that allow this unwanted mob
to beg, with imploring eyes, for a job .
Ignoring these their brother and  sisters, 
who wait, worn out, weary, rejected and cold
huddled together the young and the old
clutching their rags to their chest, doing their best 
to survive, they wait in this nation’s station.

A train may rattle through one scheduled day 
crammed and full of fools who strut and preen,
ignorant - pretending they haven’t seen
the haunted and the hopeful waiting their turn,
eyes averted they want justice perverted
no room for those who don’t fit the bill.
Homeless or helpless, your plight is ignored
by the passengers who don’t give a jot.
It’s like waiting for Godot - a hopeless lot.

March 2nd 2019.

victoria.conversations@gmail.com











Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Not for the Faint of Heart Love is not for the faint of heart. To allow love,  answering its only need takes courage and a willingness to surrender blindly to the journey full of rocks and stony places. To stumble but not falter certain that love is a constant  which will carry us to safety, a straight line to the beloved  our ultimate destination.

Have You Cleaned Your Windows Lately?

 A young couple moved into a new neighbourhood. The next morning while they were eating breakfast, the young woman saw a neighbour hanging the washing outside. “That laundry is not very clean; she doesn’t know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap”.   Her husband looked on remaining silent. Every time her neighbour hung her washing out to dry, the young woman made the same comments. A month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband “look she’s finally learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this?” The husband replied, “I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows”. This amusing analogy reflects daily life. How often do we see things through our own narrow perspective and rush to judgement? What we see when watching others depends on the clarity of the window through which we look. We can see this in almost any ordinary situation. How frequently do eye-witness accounts of the sam...