I dream of a ‘welfie’ world
Where the ‘me’ is replaced with the ‘we’
Where the common currency is love
The common language is respect
Bound in individual responsibility
Uniting each one
And bringing together the world
Connected
Joined
Working as one
In an image celebrating diversity
Yet unified by worldcentric vision
Portrayed in one powerful snapshot
Otherwise known as US
There aren’t enough tears to be cried
Nor near enough droplets of rain
Not enough lakes, oceans and seas
To wash away all of this pain
For the world has a gash to her heart
A chasm of untold deep grief
A bleed that cannot be stopped
Where mere words won’t bring any relief
For as long as disunion exists
Persecution and terror abides
As long as guns blast away peace
The split will open wider; divide
And there won’t be concord til the day
Humanity joins together as one
Where judgement is counselled by truth
And love in each other runs strong
Where the light of freedom shines so bright
And filters deep into the core
Where unity will triumph and bring
Harmony in place of all war
My name is John and here’s the thing
I’m really not best pleased
For o’er my head they’ve gone and writ
A popular decree
One that says all must so respect
Each person that we meet
And act responsibly to boot
At home and in the street
And then they’re saying love as well
Whatever can that mean
Inclusion too, no prejudice
To tolerate it seems
And no discrimination but
Fair rights; equality
With celebrations that uplift
All creeds; diversity
A law that gives each one a voice
Called democratic rights
Where each man and each woman too
Can have their say; no fight
And this they say is for the best
Perhaps even a starter
To make our green land better still
Hence forth our Magna Carta!
She’s sauntered along the street
Heels clicking on the pavement
Anticipating a wonderful day
Full of repose and calm
With hair set to perfection
Lipstick reddened
Rouge rosy
Eyes defined and soul alive
On destiny’s path
Sun shining
Bird’s tweeting
Against the hum of city traffic
She walked the boardwalk
Claiming today as her own
Confident; sassy; jovial
Her mood matching the beauty of the day
Her heart bubbling
Spirits smiling
But then in an instant her peace was shattered
By the whistle
The heckling hoot
Harassed humiliation
From the wolf’s primeval call
She stumbled on her pathway
Thrown off-balance to betray her disquiet
Objectified by the stranger’s lust
Mortified by her selection
Her sexuality penetrated
Embarrassed
Heart heavy
As clouds killed her sunshine
For what?
And why?
Her inner sanctum raped
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From the cradle to the grave
Impart a creed of love
Teach fairness and teach tolerance
With peace combined thereof
And don’t let colour of a skin
Nor disability
Sit in the seat of judgement where
The truth is hard to see
Don’t rush to brash assumption
Nor empower a path of blame
But turn away from hatred
Lest all else that might inflame
And light a fire within your heart
One that considers all
With outreach, empathy and hope
Unite the freedom call
Freedom (Photo credit: Kliefi)
When you have a disability
And a ‘hidden’ one at that
It’s not so much what you can’t do
That leaves you feeling flat
But the attitudes of others who
Just twist and turn the knife
With jibes and nasty comments that
Can ail and add more strife
The lack of understanding and
The fear to comprehend
The void of pure compassion or
Aversion to befriend
The cowering from all contact lest
The blame – indignity
The failure to see past the mask
Of disability
But those who stand out from the crowd
Who smile and take the time
To say hello or shake a hand
Tap out a different rhyme
That uplifts and renews all faith
In pure humanity
For smallest feats make largest steps
And mean the most you see!
English: A collection of pictograms. Three of them used by the United States National Park Service. A package containing those three and all NPS symbols is available at the Open Icon Library (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Liberty – human privilege
Protection of all men
Of women, children; sacrosanct
Freedom to hold the reign
Of life, the way you chose to go
The path that you might tread
Without suppression in the way
Stopping oppression dead
To have and hold autonomy
With independence true
Not confined or restricted by
Red tape and others too
To stand for all equality
Discrimination fall
To advocate a fairer way
That safeguards one and all
To be self-regulating and
To honour human rights
For choice, justice and liberty
The heart of freedom fights
United Nations Human Rights Council logo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A subscription to such freedom
Away from bigotries
To tolerance and patience for
All nationalities
Toleration that is a fair
Objective attitude
Allowing different races all
An equal magnitude
The practice of recognizing
Beliefs that others hold
With lenience, forbearance and
Acceptance ever bold
Dispelling with such bias
That comes with prejudice
Broad-mindedness and fairness
Less judgement and malice
Tolerance to accommodate
The you, the them, the me
Committing to a higher plane
A world that is more free
A chocolate box of many sorts
So full of sweet surprise
With varied contents deep within
Confectionary’s prize
A strawberry cream of pure delight
So soft, delectable
And hazelnut that nestles up
Aside a caramel
Yet no-one asks how can it be
These chocolates co-exist
And sit in box with no ado
No spite from egotist
They do not seek to fathom out
How nut sits next to cream
And know that it would harm them all
To sit by fire or steam
So why in life do many chose
To not see it how it is
The chocolate box of humanness
Without getting in a tiz
Instead they purely focus
On the need for all to be
Compliant; all the very same
With no diversity!
And if a person dares to stand
Out from the nearby crowd
They’ll remonstrate and bully him
And shout at him out loud
They’ll want to know what right he has
To not be on their team
And put him right in the hot seat to
‘Explain’ nut next to cream.
We should point out that none of these poems are about a specific individual (click here for full disclaimer)
If you suffer the illusion
That you’re better than the rest
Or in some other way believe
That you’re different and more blessed
Then take a look around you
And see what I can see
For everyone is equal
The thing is to be free
Free from ideas that isolate you
And free from other thoughts
That separate and constrict your views
In ways other than they ought
For it’s really very simple
Each human life has worth
There really is no pyramid
That exists upon this earth
And it’s not really what you do
But much more who you will be
So embrace a heart of fairness
And subscribe to equality.
Ginz&Tonic 