Imprisoned

This is not my ode of sympathy,
For a trapped soul like me.
I just want to see some real empathy.
What will it take for me to be free?

Trapped in this endless cavern of helplessness and scarcity,
However escaping this cycle is no guarantee.
Diminished without the basic needs of society.
Born into this cruelty called poverty but why me?

I miss the warm chuckle of a home,
I lack the power of a pen and paper,
And no education to fill this gaping hole.
I yearn for a scent of fresh crisp autumn air,
And some clean water to wash away this pain.
Starvation fills the bottomless pit
of my stomach like a toxic gas.
Each kernel of rice shines
like a beaming pearl amidst this madness.

I feel stuck in this prison with 3 walls.
I feel suffocated in the fighting of my shattered refuge.
Heavy shackles are wrapped around my drowning body,
I scream for help but all I can hear is the echo in my head.

I wish I had my parent’s hug and love’s welcoming smile,
But they work for so long that my life has moved on.
Yet my siblings continue to wait at the door,
hoping one day there would be more.
But they will soon realise,
That they were born on this wretched floor,
And that there is no escape that they can make.

Everyday I wake up and I realise, I am running on a hamster wheel,
Everyday is like a broken record repeating the same song,
Where my heavy labour pays for the gamble of food and water.
somehow this flicker of light inside keeps me alive.

But why would you understand my destitute life?
Why would you understand my urgent plight?
You sit comfortably in a house filled with pleasures,
that only come to us in our dreams of alternate realities.
Each basic article I see now as an expired wish.
But as I get forced to leave my perceived reality,
I look back down onto my dirt floor
and realise I won’t escape this ill-fated world.

Every time you see a poverty ad or a video,
That is a plea for some empathy,
that is child calling for your help.
Every time you hit skip or discard,
 you crush and destroy
the hope for that child.
When will you understand that the rich are getting richer?
When will you understand the poor are getting poorer?
You may look at us with disgust
but what if you were one of us.
Instead of always wanting more why don’t you help us,
Give us a glimmer of hope in this murky river we call life.
Give us an opportunity,
an opportunity to live!
Don’t make our birthplace our deathplace!
Don’t we deserve the same justice as you?
 

This is not my ode of sympathy,
For a trapped soul like me.
I just want to see some real empathy,
What will it take for me to be free?