Water

A million tears spilt in a lake
A thousand shattered stars
A hundred broken hearts and souls
No dreams to keep in jars

No hope to hold in weakened hands
No peace from death’s dark clench
Nor safety ‘gainst the rotten tide
Just stagnant filthy stench

The stench of dirty water in
A river of disease
Infested microscopic bugs
No escape and no ease

Where water does not heal and mend
Instead contains the curse
To infiltrate, to kill, to maim
To go from bad to worse

Infected with the carcass of
A dead decaying beast
Polluted from industrial
Waste not last or least

Contaminated, so unclean
Just rotten to the core
The one thing that should be so clean
Now contains sewage raw

Where vile atomic cells await
Their victims to attack
And water; essence of each life
Has poison on its back

And children know not what they drink
What ills so very grim
Where water once the source of life
Consumes the small victim

A million tears spilt in a lake
A thousand shattered stars
A hundred broken hearts and souls
No dreams to keep in jars

Using a dirty water source at Acholi Dumu Village. (Photo credit: Ryan’s Well Foundation)

Advertisement