Two Worlds Yet One Society
The children in their designer clothes giggle and chatter as they explore the gleaming play area of this pleasant place,
Whilst mums discuss the latest fashion at the same texting their friends about nothing in particular,
This is a safe and beautiful world of opportunity and prosperity, a world of advantage and plenty,
And yet, just a short distance across the hills is an unknown world which is so very, very different.
A cold northern wind bites into the soul as it drives down streets and buffets corners,
An ancient car splutters to life, coughs its way up a desolate street and wheezes to a halt at a red light,
Crumbling facades of once-elegant buildings shower concrete confetti onto those below,
High street shops used to hum to the tune of every trade but are now dominated by charity and emptiness.
This is a sadly familiar traditional world of stereotypes and deprivation,
Worn out people with life-weary looks trudge the streets of despair,
Once-working men with haunted faces and sunken eyes linger on street corners,
As women in well-worn clothes plod home carrying plastic bags of two-for-one brands.
In this place there is no colour, no current fashion, no smiles and no rosy future,
Just a sense of existing, toiling, surviving and heart-felt sadness,
The hopes and dreams of fresh-faced youth have been replaced with an acceptance of inevitable disappointment,
A melancholy aura pervades even on the sunniest of days.
As the edge of this place beckons the grey clouds of despair lift,
The manicured landscape of prosperity emerges on the horizon,
But to those in this place it is simply a mirage of bounty beyond their reach,
Society seems a facile whole with two worlds that we cruelly allow to coexist.
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