Bernard Barclay Poet Narrative

You Could

I can't save the planet, 
from all of its problems
but working together
You could overcome suffering

Working together 
You could save together 
creating wealth for yourself
and employment for others

Between Brothers, Sisters, Cousins, and Aunts
extended families could have one hundred people 
Every church congregation could have over one hundred people
One hundred people saving ten dollars per week

Is one thousand dollars per week
fifty-two thousand dollars per year
The deposit for a house every year
After ten years, you could sell the houses 

to create companies, creating employment
We sold our house 
for six hundred and forty-five thousand dollars
We could have invested in owning a hotel

You could save as families 
You could invest in hotels or any business 
You could train your children to be electricians
The first girl I loved married her childhood sweetheart

He trained to be an electrician
created a company and had twelve 
people working for him
working together as families, you could copy him

You could create wealth for yourselves 
employment for your family 
and your community
You could decide to have fewer children

In 1804, the world's population reached its first billion people 
By 1927, we reached two billion people 
Now we have reached 8.23 billion people 
How many people can the world's ecology sustain

Our oceans are depleted of fish
We cut down fifty-eight football fields 
of Raintree Forest every day
Drift net fishing is used to feed people 

Timber and furniture for housing 
You could decide to save and invest together
creating employment for the unemployed 
In Africa, children die from starvation-related causes 

You could create employment for their parents 
fair wages for a fair day's work
Parents with money can feed their starving child
Reducing population growth could create sustainable systems 

You could decide not to have wars 
You could decide to live in peace 
You could change the world
You could decide to create respect for each other 

One person can't change the world, but you could
You could decide to be nice to each other 
One moment of kindness can improve somebody's day
You could decide to give up on racist ideas

All people, white, black, and yellow, have made mistakes 
We can continue building hatred 
Or we could respect each other as friends 
Children don't see racism 

let's follow the child into a world of peace
Every day you create the life you live 
with the choices you make 
You could make better choices

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