Although the names in this poem are ficticious with respect to the accompanying photo here they nonetheless once belonged to beautiful young children of Ethiopia. Subject of this piece are the millions of hungered humanity who have perished out of starvation and its endemic disease. Pockets of African regions have been besieged by drought and poverty to the extent that human survival is precarious to fatal. Life hangs in the balance there as hungered mouths and outstretched hands want and beg for morsels of food and droplets of water. Drought, global inflation and armed conflict complicate an already desperate situation. International food aid has brought relief, largely from the US yet hunger remains for many a daily struggle to defeat the ever-present threat of death.
Tears and desperate prayers simply weren’t enough…to save Ayana.
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Her eyes deeply set in hungered hollows
Soiled stringy hair strands so long ago bathed
Sad vacant stare weeping waterless tears
A smile forever lost, defeated dreams
Ayana birthed a child, name of Dahnay
Whose papa lays silent of malnutrition
Gripped by the plague, sweetest wanton gaze
Prayers for but few morsels he never consumed
Ayana layed Dahnay to rest this day
Emaciated remains, open grave
Scorching sun glaring unforgivingly
As baby lays silent, his mama sobs
Gripped by a poverty, living in slums
Injera flatbread their only staple
Their shelter a mud hut of single room
Earthen floors a place of broken slumber
On blistered foot walking many hours long
To market they carried sorghum and maize
Over parched grasses dry, infrequent rains
Relief by the droplet long ago seen
Bitterness replacing glimmers of hope
Distended ribs skeletal, starved remains
A toxic cocktail of pain, misery
Life’s eventuality, death’s redress
Look into Ayana’s eyes…if you can
Vacant by their witness, her soul bereft
Her heart once torn to pieces, dignity
Ravaged by failings of humanity
Baby Dahnay’s cries sadly unanswered
He clung to mama’s breast, his dying thirst
Left unsatiated, he’d look away
His lifeline to survival dried up, gone
Close your eyes now baby Dahnay, look away
From a life not of your choosing sadly
May your afterlife be more plentiful
Without hunger, pain, and rampant disease
Mama Ayana will be there for you
Where papa awaits, a family again
In happiness always you will all stay
By your hut where once you gathered in prayer
…may the hunger cease to exist some day
copyright 2009 Don MacIver; All Rights Reserved
Don MacIver
some wonderful conscientious work here, Don
Thanks very much Dean. It’s wonderful to share our writes once again…has been a long time. I’m still…over there…but shifting gears to a much greater presence here I should think.
Hi Don good to see your works again – very thought provoking and yes the issue you’ve discussed here is so undervalued and like a ’silence’ in the noisy ambience of ‘progress’.
(Your website link fresh in my mind seeing it [and my as well] on Dean’s website again).
I’ve added your website link to my website too, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
A belated thank you for your presence and comments on my blog…very much appreciated. Thanks so much for the blog link…will do likewise for your own.
very touching write….and you captured the feelings of loss and humanity not served…..
i don’t understand how we can have a world, with someone like me wondering what kind of new TV i’m going to buy….while there are people that are starving. that don’t even have the necessities to keep life. it’s so far away from us….and yet such a closely damning testament to our realities.