L Milton Hankins Poet Rhyme

Childhood Revisited

A three-year-old lies in the dust naked and hungry
While a civil war rages around him in Ethiopia
An Afghani teenager lives every day with terror--
Her future more tenuous than the government
In parts of the world where to be different means
Born into inevitable hopelessness, fear, and death
Many of the world’s children orphaned by Covid
Childhood for them will never be like we knew
Free of terror, churning hunger, ravaging disease
A childhood of fun and frolic, schooling, each new
Day promising new adventures under a parental lid
Born in America we never worried for our next breath
Never surrounded with war’s devastating scenes
Never really wondering what our existence meant
Whether our being was some kind of divine error
No, fact is, most of us live in a comparative utopia
And if we understand their situation, we must agree

written October 30, 2021
[a poem written in my reverse
rhyming style]

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Terry Flood October 31, 2021 at 7:04 AM Can’t really say much more than ‘absolutely’. I don’t know if the expression is used in the States, but adults used to tell whingeing kids, ‘Kids today don’t know they’re born.’ Terry L Milton Hankins October 31, 2021 at 11:27 AM That's so true, Terry. Most kids born in the west do not know how lucky they have it, in my opinion.

Gershon Wolf October 30, 2021 at 8:39 PM That's right, and we should appreciate what we have, merely due to the accident of birth and the grace of an unseen God... In addition to which, we in the USA live better than Kings and Queens did 150 years ago. Much better. Thanks for this one, Milt. ~ Gratitudinally yours, gw L Milton Hankins October 30, 2021 at 9:01 PM You are quite welcome, gw. Glad you read it, and thanks so much always for your thoughtful comments.

Shirley Hawkins October 30, 2021 at 7:36 PM Sadly life is not fair..... L Milton Hankins October 30, 2021 at 8:26 PM Hmmm...I'm not sure whether it is life or humanity, but either way it's not fair. We, nor they, have no control over where we are born or what we are born into.

Caren Krutsinger October 30, 2021 at 3:18 PM Some born in America are worried about their last breath, Though. Sadly. We are not as untouchable as we like to believe, still this is a lovely empathetic piece Hank. L Milton Hankins October 30, 2021 at 6:47 PM Thanks for your kind, meaningful thoughts, Caren. No one has it better in the entire world, for all of our problems and concerns, than we do. At least that's how I feel.

Tom Cunningham October 30, 2021 at 12:53 PM There is something to be said about living in a civilised society where we can worship without fear of persecution, vote in who we want to govern us, freedom to speak out against wrongdoings yet in many parts of the world some choose to live in the dark ages and kill anyone who opposes them. Tom L Milton Hankins October 30, 2021 at 1:01 PM That is so true, Tom. In that regard, we are so blessed.