2017 Poetry & Storytelling Competition Volume 1 | Page 7

The man who ran his own meat market business

Lived this harsh reality

When he lost his business

And eventually, his home

To selfish and greedy men

Who possessed hearts as cold as the meat the man once sold

Their dark eyes with a tint of silver glistened

Hungry for more

And so they hunted like a wolf pack and took

Collecting every trace of valuables and treasures

Depriving more men of happiness and life.

More men will lose their homes

Their cultural roots and history

Most importantly, their identity

And worst of all,

Their cries won’t reach hearts from a thousand miles.

Then there’s the young boy

Who is consistently beaten by his peers

Until he’s left in heart aching tears

And in every step he takes

There is a constant fear penetrating within his bones

But all he wants

Is to live freely and in peace

And love not by gender

But by heart.

These people once had dreams

These people once knew what love was

These people once had homes

And they knew, themselves.

But what happened?

Did we forget that we are all humans?

Of flesh and bones

And aren’t we gifted with the ability to feel and reason?

Each of us, possesses a heart and mind

Every one of us is very different, but yet, similar

Our fates are many

But together, we are one

Because at the core of our lives,

We all know what despair and pain feels like

We all know what happiness and love feels like.

The mother loves her son like any other mother

The son had dreams and hopes for his future, like many of us

The man worked toward building his dreams like any other hard working individual

The young boy just wants to love and feel loved.

Afterall, aren’t we just like the mother, the man, and the young boy?

We love,

We dream,

We hope.

But the barriers that we create and seclude ourselves in

And the false perceptions we follow

Is what destroys us.

Our humanity.

We all harvest different values and beliefs

We all have different perspectives of the world

But when the sun comes down,

And the skies are painted with hues of red, yellows, and oranges

At the very last breath of the day,

We all share and work toward a common goal

Of preserving peace

And feeling unconditionally loved

Accepted.

Let us rejoice not in fear

But out of love

Let us feel and live the full colors of life

Let us come hand and hand

Heart and heart

To creating more of those temporary moments of happiness

And one day,

Let us wake up to a world

A reality

Where we no longer have to fear

What tomorrow will bring

Because the tomorrow

We will live

Is a world, where we are able to travel freely, like birds gliding smoothly through the skies.

It is a world of love

And peace.

Let us live and cherish more of those moments.

And make the temporary become permanent.

After all, we are all humans.

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