Amid All Cares

Pain and suffering, I often see around Though now I don't have them to seriously confront Yet a nameless unease weighs me down At the sight of hundreds cruelly beaten down How many, under eternal shackles tied And in poverty, want and misery bide With their hearts burdened and body strained With nothing to hope for and all energy drained Tossed by tempests and wild winds which roar They float adrift far from safer shore How many languish under violent strain Unable to share or divulge their silent pain Many are lost in the arid deserts of life With their feet burning, wading through blistering strife They fail to distinguish the oasis from the mirage Often duped by life's well aligned montage! Under a raging sun that spits fire overhead Many are scorched and fall down dead But the river of Time that winds its weary way Doesn't have the elixir to drive the thirst away While so many, without even a trace of cheer Wilt and wither in dark despair Some stay in pleasure domes of dazzling sheen With their backs, turned to life's melancholy scene I train my mind not to shrink into my own sequestered shell When all around I see misery, hatred and violence swell How I wish my heart were the fount of gushing love And with the olive branch of peace, soar like a dove