white like the sands
mingled with blood
from a premenopausal sea

white like horizons
with interlock'd spirits
rootbound to the family tree

white like the sacks of rice
that are stack'd
on a barge
from a foreign shores

white like milk-sclera
from salt smitten eyes
of a people deserving far more

white like the teeth
of the leaders
who upturn a cradle
for power and gain

white like the calcified bone
skeleton's bones
born in freedom
and are now part of
war's dismal shame

white like blush'd pearls
of the Indian Ocean
that shreik mass discomfort
and grief

and white like the lies
of the government spies
who delight in disguising
their guilt with relief.

but sands can be ebony
skies can be blue
and brown rice rivals white
so i'm told. . .

so why pity the place
where we hand over jobs
yet leave Africa
malnourish'd and cold?

© 2005 cynth'ya lewis reed
all rights reserved.
* * * * *


Three Resources Used to Create this Poetic Lesson

1. The Australian
http://theaustralian.com.au report
Headline: Please don't forget about us: Somalia. AP 05 January 2005

2. The East African (see link below)

. . . and GOD

Excerpt from the Australian. Headline: Please don't forget about us: Somalia. AP 05 January 2005

AT least 50,000 people in Somalia urgently need food, water, shelter and medical care more than a week after the tsunamis slammed into Africa.

Twenty-four countries, including the US, Italy, Germany and Saudi Arabia, have pledged to send relief supplies to Somalia. But Somali presidential spokesman Yusuf Mohammed Ismail said nothing had arrived.

Survivors urgently needed help after losing their homes and livelihoods, he said.

"We are very happy that relief supplies have arrived in Asia, which was hit the hardest by the tragedy, but Somalia - which has been ravaged from a 13-year civil war, drought and political neglect - also needs emergency help to deal with the latest calamity."