Hunger walks barefoot through the streets,
while ministers gorge on stolen meats.
Children suck silence instead of bread,
their futures pawned, their dreams half-dead.
The unemployed queue in endless chains,
their sweat dismissed, their labour drained.
Degrees rot in forgotten drawers,
while power laughs behind locked doors.
Corruption fattens on every deal,
their pockets swelling, ours to steal.
Contracts vanish, truth is sold,
justice buried beneath their gold.
They dine in palaces, sip red wine,
while bodies starve in broken lines.
The country bleeds, yet they parade,
in suits stitched tight from what we paid.
And still they preach of brighter days,
while tearing hope in clever ways.
We see their lies, we hear their song
but hungry voices will rise strong.
We shall rise to fight for our future,
and shadows sharpen into light.
The feast of the few will come undone—
the starving many will be one.
One country for all - equal rights!
Leaders will become servant while followers walk with prestige and honour flying my country flag.
Categories:
favouritism, africa, corruption, dream, food,
Form: Free verse
When under the gun how can one
not be outdone by nepotism
or overcome by favouritism
altho' the norm they're no more
than a form of terrorism
a nebulous opponent none can fight
on the human landscape
naught but a blight
from which we can't escape or run
any self-respecting someone would shun
and as for me you see
I was obviously yet definitely
born in the wrong place
at the wrong time with the wrong face
seeing promotion from outside in the cold
not a foot could I put over the threshold
what with doors slammed progress jammed
out of my depth in over my head
can't get a look-in may as well be dead
Categories:
favouritism, how i feel, word
Form: Rhyme
This is the last poem on the history of Felicity, a person I know from correspondence with a friend abroad. No relation of mine.
In one year's time, I shall retire
What is there to look for?
Two of my daughters got married.
They live quite far from me.
Only Felicity remains, the middle one,
The one I loved most.
Mind you I paid for a grand wedding for both of them.
No favouritism would impede me from
Granting their wishes., but living far
I rarely see them especially as babies came
To brighten our humdrum life.
But where was Felicity? She spent so much time
At the hospital, except for our usual Sunday lunch.
Until one Sunday, a bomb blasted my brains.
Felicity had a fiancée, whom she invited
To our Sunday lunch. Was I angry? Confused?
He was a comely fellow, a brain surgeon to boot.
He promised to buy a house adjoining mine,
And a door would join both our houses.
Soon Felicity got married and what a wedding I paid.
They were the happiest couple on earth.
And soon she gave birth to a bundle of joy.
From that day on I did not act as a father
But a nanny for my lovely grandson.
Categories:
favouritism, appreciation, baby, blessing, marriage,
Form: Free verse
Everyone has sentimental eyes and mind
It is only God favouritism don't drive blind
Categories:
favouritism, abuse, addiction, art, bereavement,
Form: Couplet
The last poem I submitted here, perhaps in February 2021, can be misunderstood by careless readers. I may be wrong in wanting to sometimes offer pithy poems. If readers are not familiar with the darker races of the global village, and how they achieved independence from European and US colonial rule, they miss the many nuances.
In that last poem I also showed my ignorance and knee-jerk reactions in the youthful days in my native South Africa, by "hating favoritism and 'FAVOURites' in public discourse." Now that I am an evangelist, Pentecostal, I teach how to remain in God's grace and favour - by relying on Jesus' finished work on the Cross of Calvary. It is both imputed righteousness and imputed favour one enjoys as a believer in Jesus and the efficacy of His blood sacrifice for sinners since Adam and Eve.
Fighting apartheid, hating privilege:
Having "favorites" (?) - thus hating Favor
Until Jesus THE WORD showed me
Anoints His children, any color
Categories:
favouritism, america, feelings, god, history,
Form: Prose Poetry
I'll go to the president and tell him about the people's plight,
I'll go to the president and tell him about the ambushed and killing of farmers,
I'll go to the president and talk to him about the herdsmen and their settlement,
I'll go to the president and remind him about his unfulfilled promises,
I'll go to the president and tell him about the masses hardship, agony, anguished and plea.
I'll go to the president and remind him about the enormous natural resources the country is blessed with,
I'll go to the politicians and remind them of yesterday promises not tomorrow's election,
I'll go to the house of representatives to remind them of people's plea to represent them well..
I'll go to the house of corrupt leaders and tell them about the Messiah who gives them power to govern in truth not to be the ambassadors of corruption..
I'll go to the universe and beyond and tell all about the greed of men in Power,
I'll go to the president and tell him about the high rate of unemployment, crimes, segregation, tribalism, favouritism, religious differences, nepotism, regionalism and people's clamour for change..
I'll go and tell him these and more..
Categories:
favouritism, patriotic, political,
Form: Political Verse
Chiefs of mischiefs are-
Vulnerable honourables
Who wear the outfit of oppression
And vicariously dishonourable
Upon putting our nation to recession
Chiefs of mischiefs are-
Magnanimous messengers of doom
Offspring of greed, kindred of impunity,
In conspiracy who prey on our security
Piercing our gallant soldiers with gloom
Chiefs of mischiefsare-
Peaceful promoters of poverty
Constantly canvassing continuity
In power and personalization of public property
Turning we entity into a nonentity
Chiefs of mischiefs are-
Juristically judicious judges
Who swap judgment for payment
Transforming prisons to lodges
For penniless paupers to torment
Chiefs of mischiefs are-
The various ambivalent voters
To whom tokens be given
In lieu who hawked their quota
Of fortune and their children’s children even
Chiefs of mischiefs are-
Impartially official officers
Whose working formulas be tribalism
Absenteeism, favouritism. And those Lucifers
Dwelling on the deck of vandalism
Chiefs of mischiefs are-
The series of sinister citizens who
Art devoid of fear of God
Perishers of our betterment at home
Crushers of our dignity abroad
Categories:
favouritism, corruption, freedom, humanity,
Form: Rhyme
Fluent as a rill, that wanders silver-footed down a hill,
Their manifestos raised our burried hopes from sepulchres,
Glittering like an aigrette of stars,
We believed they were refined gold.
Indeed, they deserve our patriotism and mandate,
Wholeheartedly, we gave them,
While hoping to enjoy the dividends of democracy.
Surprisingly, it came and faded like a wreath of mist at eve,
Suffering and smiling like well fed slaves,
But our cheeks are furrowed and writhen like rain-washed crags,
Our tear drops like water from an abandoned statue,
We have been neglected and underdeveloped,
It stung like a frozen lash.
The past is dotted with poverty, blood, sweat and pain,
The future is blurry and uncertain,
Like a mirage, vague, dimly seen at first,
Yet, we are still fighting and dying,
To eradicate corruption, nepotism, favouritism and sectionalism from our society,
But it's as futile as to oppose an earthquake with argument.
Categories:
favouritism, corruption,
Form: Free verse
As my butterfly emerges from it's cocoon.
I whisper a secret in this hot house room.
Spread your wings my little friend.
I want you to help someone mend.
Take a message across the Irish Sea.
To the Isle of Man, if you please.
Land on the shoulder of my friend Jan.
Tell her it's good she is so calm.
If the face of undeserved favouritism.
She has risen above giving criticism.
To those who desreve to be ashamed.
When my friend Jan was not to blame.
Thank you butterfly and thank you Jan.
Remember you have the love of a decent man.
Categories:
favouritism, beautiful, butterfly, friend,
Form: Couplet
The government and its people stay on antagonistic sides
but what stimulates the rulers’ infidelity to patriotism
can easily be bought by any, over the counter.
They are desperately in need
of sailors to guide through the storm
yet for some reasons,
nurture a belief of so called anointed but empty vessels.
Structural human developments
siphoned by leadership’s exhaust pipes,
desecrating humanity’s sanctuary
for corruption to sell in wholesale.
The public treasury flows down
non-stop even bypassing its bladder,
as materialism and the quest for good life
break all of conscience’s administrative protocols.
Survival instincts undergo inflation
for civilization to suffer a recession
to this end, unity’s objections are overruled
by Nepotism and favouritism.
Social growth is blocked
and always in need of foreign catheter.
A direct current links poverty to the mindset and way of life,
giving a clear evidence of an economy
in desperate need of reconstructive surgery.
Categories:
favouritism, africa, america, passion, patriotic,
Form: Chant Royal
A child's home
Running in the courtyard
when sun is at its peak,
Harsh voice of grandpa
as he would sneak,
Long hours with friends
as play doesn't tire,
Books don't fascinate
and mother spits fire,
For watering of the garden
we are in a queue,
Hand pump crackles
with a rusty hue,
Dining room fragrance
as mother cooks my fav,
Jealous are others
favouritism is nothing new,
Oh the bedroom I share
with my bro and sis,
Cartoon time please spare
TV remote I crave,
Sound of train passing by
as window panes rattle,
In sleep I travel afar
to return to wake up alarm,
Who likes to leave early
for lessons at school,
No time for splashes
that I cherish in the pool,
Recall the greater aplomb
in my childhood home,
No worries, no enmity
purity at heart, integrity,
Memories chase dreams
in morning screams,
When croaks the raven,
child's home is a heaven!
Written Sept 22nd, 2015
For Verlena's contest
Awarded 1st place win
Categories:
favouritism, beauty, blessing, emotions, home,
Form: Free verse
We take up arms against one another,
we engage in mass killing of each other,
yet we’re of the same parents, Adam and Eve.
We kill one another in cold-blooded murder
because of politics, enmity, rituals, ..., for mere burger,
yet we’re all descendants of the same couple.
We knowingly cheat one another- injustice,
favouritism, ethnicism, racism, prejudice, ...,
yet we’re all siblings, brothers and sisters.
Your evils against me and mine against you
constitute man’s manifest evil against man,
yet man’s man, man’s men and men’re a man.
When then will we drop arms against each other,
and realise the long forgotten brotherhood sense?
Brotherhood, I mean, brotherhood in its true meaning.
When will we be united, not untied, like a broom,
and stop being divided by meaningless lifeless things-
boundaries, skin colours, accents, dressings, ...?
When will men be a single man in thought,
ideology, action, ..., with different parts
but only one mono-compact body?
Categories:
favouritism, bullying, conflict, discrimination, evil,
Form: Didactic