Greed Poems
Let America Be America Again
by Langston Hughes
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
......
The Child-Angel
by Rabindranath Tagore
They clamour and fight, they doubt and despair, they know no end
to their wrangling.
Let your life come amongst them like a flame of light, my
child, unflickering and pure, and delight them into silence.
They are cruel in their greed and their envy, their words are like
hidden knives thirsting for blood.
Go and stand amidst their scowling hearts, my child, and let
your gentle eyes fall upon them like the forgiving peace of the
evening over the strife of the day.
Let them see your face, my child, and thus know the meaning
......
The Criminal V
by Khalil Gibran
A young man of strong body, weakened by hunger, sat on the walker's portion of the street stretching his hand toward all who passed, begging and repeating his hand toward all who passed, begging and repeating the sad song of his defeat in life, while suffering from hunger and from humiliation.
When night came, his lips and tongue were parched, while his hand was still as empty as his stomach.
He gathered himself and went out from the city, where he sat under a tree and wept bitterly. Then he lifted his puzzled eyes to heaven while hunger was eating his inside, and he said, "Oh Lord, I went to the rich man and asked for employment, but he turned me away because of my shabbiness; I knocked at the school door, but was forbidden solace because I was empty- handed; I sought any occupation that would give me bread, but all to no avail. In desperation I asked alms, but They worshippers saw me and said "He is strong and lazy, and he should not beg."
"Oh Lord, it is Thy will that my mother gave birth unto me, and now the earth offers me back to You before the Ending."
His expression then changed. He arose and his eyes now glittered in determination. He fashioned a thick and heavy stick from the branch of the tree, and pointed it toward the city, shouting, "I asked for bread with all the strength of my voice, and was refused. Not I shall obtain it by the strength of my muscles! I asked for bread in the name of mercy and love, but humanity did not heed. I shall take it now in the name of evil!"
......
To A Sad Daughter
by Michael Ondaatje
All night long the hockey pictures
gaze down at you
sleeping in your tracksuit.
Belligerent goalies are your ideal.
Threats of being traded
cuts and wounds
--all this pleases you.
O my god! you say at breakfast
reading the sports page over the Alpen
as another player breaks his ankle
......
Two Words
by Robert William Service
'God' is composed of letters three,
But if you put an 'l'
Before the last it seems to me
A synonym for Hell.
For all of envy, greed and hate
The human heart can hold
Respond unto the devil's bait
Of Gold.
When God created Gold to be
......
Curse you, O cloud
by Aditi Hayaran
Curse you, O cloud, Human say with disdain,
You neither quench the earth's thirst, nor sustain
The trees' parched throats, the soil's barren pain,
You only thunder and cause such strain. Curse you, O cloud, for all this rain
With words like arrows, Human pierce the sky,
And curse the cloud, up high and dry. Again and again, human's words fly,
Curse you, O cloud!" Human cry.
The cloud hears all,
......
The Vulture.
by Laurence Argyll Simon Noond
The human Vulture circling in the "sky",
Watching his prey with beady eye.
Watching and waiting; it`s meal to die,
That greedy selfish Vulture in the "sky".
More! More!! More!!!
by Laurence Argyll Simon Noond
The night is cold; the world is old,
Time is running out; polluted and cold.
Greed as killed us all! stone cold,
So many People want, Gold! Gold!! Gold!!!
I want More! More!! More!!!
Fill my house till i can`t close the door,
Look at me, i should have more!
I hate those people who CAN`T close THEIR door.
......
Burnt honey
by Quinn Smorenburg
Slobber on his shovel; this old man shits nothing.
Naked and shaking; his begging lips crack.
He swallows his honey, swinging his lanterns;
but piercing his darkness: two button eyes –
rimmed golden; reflections of want glazing his jowl.
His shadows birth those dregs swallowed.
Hounding sweet truth, his lanterns in hand.
Shine they do not, but gulp and lick that
waste remaining; unknown, still crunching.
......
Poly Ticks
by Seyi Ojenike
Politics, a game of power and might
Where the rules are often bent and slighted
A world of deals and hidden agendas
Where truth is lost and ambition festered
......
