Pakistan:
In a short time,
many people will die,
will just die,
of exposure, and
of hunger.
Entire families, entire villages,
will lie down on the barren soil
and depart from this life.
This,
just months after wings of
families and their homes were
washed away…
Meanwhile, I sit here, worrying about getting a job,
which I am worried about,
but still living in such comfort that I can barely realize
how worried I should be,
how concerned, made active…
I have my laptop, plugged in,
playing some music from India, my lamp is on,
my little candle is burning away…
I’m in my single bed, tucked in under my warm
soft blankets, surrounded by
more books than some towns have had,
with more snacks stashed away than
whole families/villages/camps have eaten today,
pouring myself some tea…
And what can I do for Pakistan? Report on it? Go there?
They need clothes…if only I could send all my clothes –
though it’d be sad to see all those
Pakistanis wearing western garb
from now on
because of this…
And meanwhile,
what is the taliban doing?
What are the bad guys doing?
Planning to bomb some more Sufi shrines?
That’ll really help.
Taking some more jet liner trips
around the world?
Eating on gold plated dishes?
Redistribution of wealth:
How can one person have
mansions when
so many die of hunger?
Well, I know how, but…
Where’s the heart?
Can you imagine, sitting there
in the hot, quiet sun,
hungry, weak, afraid –
in despair.
DESPAIR…
What do you do when you know
there is no food,
no food anywhere –
no stores,
no houses,
no tents,
no food:
You stare out across a horizon that
stretches out into time, and you know
your candle is burning out,
that horizon being all that is left between you
and your end;
then,
as if time is creeping you up to that wall,
suddenly,
you are there,
and your crying is
finished;
you are done.
“god”:
how people can call on god…?
but who else are you gonna call on?
And,
everyone knows that
soon, those people will be
quiet;
they will stop troubling
us….soon.
By Christmas.
By New Year’s.
Soon their stories will be gone,
even to each other,
and we can go on in peace.
We need to change our priorities.
Or be heartless.
We gave ourselves over
to the idol of money.
We’ve coined our own hearts.
But, we are made of flesh
and blood,
of stomachs,
of nerves,
of limbs, and eyes,
and nipples, and of
our minds.
We think thoughts,
and we have feelings.
Everyone has feelings.
Whether they want to or not.
I suppose it can be easier
not to have feelings.
Whose voice can trouble you then?
:Victorials: 