Unforgivable

Unforgivable There was nothing I could do Except swallow the guilty mouthful Taken from their bowl of rice And chew upon the gristle Of my add hot water pot noodle Couldn’t stop the ice clinking In the glass of my extra chilled white wine Couldn’t stop me eating In my clinging to my life No I couldn’t stop their hunger Or wipe away their tears As they picked and ate the peeling paint From the sides of oil drums No way to stop the sun From drying to brittle leaves No way to halt the madness Of other peoples greed Nothing I could do but quench my thirst And dine with the ugly flies Clinging around the brown babies eyes Nothing I could do But feel my muscles work Feel the nourishment of bone While they live as human skeletons All I could do was sit there And apologise for the world All I could do was sit there And respectfully eat my meal Adding too much salt so it mingled with my tears Adding too much mustard So the food went burning down my throat I could do nothing else Except apologise for myself Sorry for being born in my wealthy world Sorry for my country For not rushing to your need Sorry for my government My vote helped to bring them in Sorry for the United Nations Who’s squabbling leaves you starving Sorry they did not stop the war That turned you into refugees And all the weeping mothers Their desperation in their eyes Their children no more than rag dolls Limply hanging from their arms Their little bloated bodies Going to join the others On the lime dusted piles All I could do was sit there And apologise for the world All I could do was sit there And say sorry for myself Sorry for being born in my wealthy world Each and every mouthful Was swallowed with a choke But all I could do was sit there And respectfully eat my meal written for Christie Moses and Sharon Weimer's competition "I'm Sorry"