Hearts Still Care

Food

I have eaten today,
Today, I had food;
My stomach is full,
The day has been good.

I can’t imagine what it is
To be hungry and lost,
Aching to eat my fill;
Yet dreading the cost.

I can’t understand how
Peaceful protests are stopped,
How water canyons are used
And tear bombs are dropped.

You have food at home,
Because someone toils in the field –
Do what must be done –
See their wounds are healed!

You have eaten today
Because of the ones in grief,
How can you not pray they smile,
Or hope for their relief?

When festivals occur this year,
It feels like a misnomer.
The year has rung out its knells;
The world is a quiet mourner.

The lights aren’t so many
As they were a year ago;
Smiles were easier then –
Hearts hadn’t burnt out so.

Hope rests in each light lit,
That’s what it’s all about,
In the loudest night,
A lionhearted shout!

It may not be heard,
It may not be seen,
But what an experience
This learning has been!

All things fade:
The bright, yellow day
Sifts into mellow orange;
The orange doesn’t stay –

It melts into the moon or stars,
And they dissolve into the sky;
Flowers fade, from torrid colours
Into grey ash, by and by.

People grow;
Youth succumbs to age;
Beauty may remain,
If freed from its cage.

Pain decreases;
Wounds may heal;
If one learns
From all they choose to reveal.

Fathers leave;
Lovers lie;
The saddest tears
Dry.

Every place on earth
Eventually gets shade,
For even the sun knows
All things fade.