Collateral Damage

The under bridges, the river banks

stinking ghettos swarm with them-
multitudes rendered jobless, homeless
because on the rampage is a deadly virus.
Vacant eyes stare at their empty pans,
hungry mouths walk for miles
stand they in serpentine queues
for a charity meal, often shared by two.
The tar melts, singes their callused feet
under a merciless hot sun

The baby cries lustily, suckles hungrily
not a drop emerges to soothe his throat
'there's no milk' the new mother laments
the drought in her sore breasts.
They rain blows with their ruthless policemen's sticks
on hapless adolescents pining to be with their families.
Little does it bother us
for life goes on within our cozy cocoons
for the privileged few, regardless
of the misery and suffering around us

'All pity choked with the custom of fell deeds'
they rejoice in the clang of currency
reverberating through their overflowing coffers
their stores overflow with lifesaving drugs
and medical equipments, the hospitals are barren.
The political masters don't rue their incompetence
their apathy, their criminal negligence.
The mercenary businessmen will build their castles
over the never ending canals of faceless mass graves
'collateral damage' they shrug nonchalantly     
because it is they, not us. 

Quote ''all pity choked with the custom of fell deeds'' is from the speech of Mark Antony in Shakespeare's Julius Caeser.

#NaPoWriMo #ArtoonsInn #PoetryParlour #Day19 #Quotes