He was not alone in t his advent ure digging deep
He was t ired and weary
Ot hers wit h maps and t errible t ans were t here t oo
The weight on his shoulders t oo great ;
And t hey saw and yet t hey didn?t see t he same as He.
The eyes of t he crowd t oo piercing.
They saw t he poor t he marginalized t he weak t he
pit iful.
The crack of an ent rance t o ut opia was quickly
growing slim
He saw behind all t hat
He saw t he pride
And He was one of t he many est ranged t hat lost
passage.
He saw t he purit y
So, cursing God or what ever higher power,
He saw t he unending st rengt h of resilience.
For t he miserable series He was forced t o name his
life
So He dropped heavy coins of respect .
He packed what lit t le He owned int o a small
knapsack
And set off t o discover t he nooks and crannies of t he
world.
The second st op was no bet t er,
Or perhaps it was no worse.
This t ime He heard
The first st op He went t o was an exot ic land.
The sharp crack of a palm crossing a cheek
There was no doubt t hat He did not belong.
The weep of a boy- child left alone
His brown shoes and combed hair an anomaly
The scream of a lump, once a body
Amongst t he billowing wind?s daught ers,
The wail of t he hungry and t he hurt .
The flowing silk of gowns and t he soft cot t on of
t urbans.
And He heard t he whist le of t he workers
The prayers t o a god
Grinning in awe and glowering in jealousy He
vent ured in deeper.
The laught er of a child
The blessings made of hope.
As He dug deeper t he light grew dimmer
And all He could do was walk on by
And more vibrant gowns were replaced wit h rags
Humbled as never before
The smoot h dark faces of gorgeous women
A jumbled box of cont radict ions
M orphed int o t he dirt st reaked faces of youngst ers.
Tumbling about in his mind.
The shapes of t heir bodies so clear beneat h t heir t hin
skins.
He cont inues on t he pat h
Not a single person wit h t he t ime
The callouses, t he bruises, t he painful wells of hard
work
To give him t he at t ent ion He?d hoped for.
All prominent . Too prominent .
All t oo busy living on,
A girl no more t han half his age is carrying life
wit hin her
All t oo busy fight ing on.
Not a single person lost t he flame
A girl even younger is feeding lit t le boys
He had ext inguished when He left
A boy even younger is picking up bot t les
And once He t erminat ed t hat t hought
The youngest , t oo young t o even speak properly,
Are t he ones holding out t wo palms.
he headed home t hinking less of himself.
he was no longer t he cent er of t he universe
An ent it y deserving pit y
And all t hat he had, he was fort unat e t o have
And all t hat he didn?t have, he vowed t o work for.
Not hing in his life was free,And now he knew t hat it
was right fully so.
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