Crime of Poverty
I walked through Asia.
Through Africa.
Through Europe.
Through America.
And I saw
what poverty does
to a human soul.
Some live
on less than a dollar.
Some survive
on less than a dream.
Over a billion
on scraps of life
in a world overflowing
with food and wealth.
How?
How can this be?
How can poverty grow
in a world
so rich in resources?
Because the rich
devour the weak.
Because powerful nations
feed on the fragile.
Because greed
has become
the true religion
of our age.
How can we end poverty
when military budgets rise
like angry gods
while agriculture
dies in silence?
Food should be sacred.
Shelter
should be a birthright.
But we made both
a privilege.
And called it progress.
Why should one man
hold a million acres
while another
sleeps under the open sky?
This is not fate.
This is design.
Poverty
was created.
Crafted.
Maintained.
Corporations hoard
the people’s wealth.
Institutions steal
in the name of order.
And billionaires rise
like false kings
in a sea
of hunger and despair.
As long as the gap
between rich and poor
widens like a wound,
the world
will never know peace.
Nor stability.
Nor dignity.
Material poverty
is a crime
against human evolution.
A shame
to our century.
A curse
on our humanity.
No one
should die of hunger
in an age
of abundance.
No child
should beg
beneath towers of gold.
Heaven on Earth
is possible.
But only
when every citizen
can live.
Eat.
Sleep.
Dream.
And stand
as a human being
with dignity.
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