Upheaval

UPHEAVAL

Unchecked greed

Taking resources

From those in need

To those who

Take no heed

Riches piled on high

While those oppressed

Under burdens do sigh

And babies in the night

From hunger cry

Like misers of old

They hoard their gold

And in unchecked avarice

They’ve grown bold

There is a disconnect

From the masses

To those who direct

We are the ones

They do reject

This rift

That has sent

The world adrift

Is found everywhere

And our leaders

No longer care

And those who have

Are reluctant to share

The common man

Grows weary of this

Most common plan

And is turning away

From this same old way

Of treating each other

As if numbers with which

To play

The problem does not

In a person rest

But in a system

That has long since

Seen its best

This is a new day

The time has come

For us

A new world to become

When we treat each other

With care and love

Without fear

Of love from above

Each night

As we go to sleep

Let us remember

There are others

In the dark, from suffering

Do weep

We are awakening

To a new day

Where we must find

A new way

To share with each other

As if all were our own

Sister or brother

To give freely

From what we possess

Which in turn

Will ease the distress

And will ourselves bless

-Shiidon, October 2011

There is a line that I saw on the site www.bahai.org that sums up what inspired this poem for me. I saw the striving of people around the world for change and the suffering that is beginning to become a shared suffering, even in this, the worlds richest nation in recorded history. This is the line from that web site:

Bahá'u'lláh said, "The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens," and that, as foretold in all the sacred scriptures of the past, now is the time for humanity to live in unity.

I truly believe we are headed for a unity, not in money or power, but in brotherhood and peace. I was raised with the principle of elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty. It is not what you have but what you do with what you have that defines you.