The rich walked streets that glowed like the sun Their nights unbroken, their fear undone; While blocks beneath, the shadows spawned An overlooked secret the courts ignored That darkness, too, is something scarred
Teachers spoke in measured tones Praising markets, contracts and loans;“ Entitlement,” they said,“ protects the bones Of liberty from moral fraud The poor are poor because they flawed.”
But hunger does not argue back Lamps don’ t follow those who lack; A mother’ s wages will not hack A system that was built to justify The myth that merit cannot lie.
Hospitals rose like sanctuaries sealed, But only opened when the wealthy appealed A child collapsed; no aid became revealed His parents“ unable to pay” And justice decided to look away
Factories insisted their labor cost nothing; But anyone who’ s lived it knows Poverty does the choosing for you. Coercion wasn’ t a threat or a shout It was a quiet mask we only recognized later When“ desperation” got sold to us as“ a job.”
34 | Travesía • revista estudiantil