keith jeffries

A Common Wealth

by keith jeffries

Sunday 12th July 2020 1:08 pm

A Common Wealth

We must stop and draw breath

to seriously consider a better world

The past has eroded our individuality

diminished our identity and potential

into a world of greed, violence as a commonality

We must come together and pool our resources

We stagnate and wear false masks

leering at television screens of horror

as we lounge in comfort and luxury

War and famine, poverty and cruelty

have become famiiar from our comfort zones

we are impervious to them

We must come together and pool our resources

A young African man moulds mud bricks with his bare hands

as a scientist travels to work to make the latest ballistic missile

The past and present are no longer tenable

a radical new world view is demanded

the alternative is to self destruct

We must come to together and pool our resources

Deep in our inner being we suppress a disquiet

refusing to acknowledge our complicity and reality

A rubicon waits to be crossed

Our nemesis awaits our fall into an abyss

there are no alternatives or options

We must come together and pool our resources

The day of liberation is on the horizon

our souls cry out for the re creation of who we are

Dormant identities and talents yearn to be cultivated

We live shoulder to shoulder with the dispossessed

we participate in prejudice and ignore poverty

We must come together and pool our resources

A common wealth will be beneficial to us all

Let us live with what we we need

and not for what we crave

No longer an exclusive wealth

the property of the few

Our Spirits must be ignited with

the iridescent light of charity

We must come together and pool our resources

🌷(2)

◄ The Prodigal Son

Eternal Youth ►

Comments

keith jeffries

Mon 13th Jul 2020 20:19

M.C., and Po,

Thank you for your latest comments. Poets have often been regarded as prophets which probably accounts for many a sorry demise. We are called with our talents to address the society in which we live. Poets are also called to search for the truth and expose it often to the chagrin of governments and to the enlightenment of their populace. We are a literary elite, often despised but courageous.

Thanks again
Keith

M.C. Newberry

Mon 13th Jul 2020 19:27

KJ - don't forget the Chinese busy involving themselves in the business of African and Indian affairs - among others.

keith jeffries

Mon 13th Jul 2020 19:00

M.C.,
Thank you for this further comment which puts forward many valid points and most of which I would agree with. You are dealing with historical fact at a time of colonialism when Imperial powers drew frontiers on maps with no consultation of the indigenous peoples. The colonial experience was not entirely bad but it is over and sadly, as you rightly point out, the peoples of these territories are at the mercy of unscrupulous tyrants from within their own ranks. I am trying to address the future, a new and different concept of bringing people together where there is a more equal distribution if wealth and the pooling of intellectual and natural resources. The difference between those who invest their security in advanced weaponry and those who wish to eradicate hunger. In Africa alone hundreds of thousands of children die annually through drinking contaminated water as Putin and Trump build bigger and better bombs. A new paradigm shaking off the past is urgently called for.

Thank you again for your interest and contribution to this poem.

Keith

M.C. Newberry

Mon 13th Jul 2020 15:32

Most certainly an imbalance of wealth is a huge factor in amalgamating the "human family". Much has been said to
denigrate past "empires" with the benefit of hindsight in the human
story but the wish to accumulate wealth and power is inbuilt in our
psyche, surely that's hard to refute. Those lands that have them
often obtained them by venturing beyond their national borders in
expeditions that required great courage, fortitude and tenacity and
it could be argued that their successes were a reward for those
qualities. I wager, they would argue along those lines if they were
here today. Unfortunately, along with brave expeditions came
exploitation and much of the latter continues to exist, not only from
intervening interests but also from those in power in the lands that are affected, all too eager to take advantage of the chance to gain
for themselves while depriving their own people of the advantages
their own countries should afford and provide.

keith jeffries

Mon 13th Jul 2020 09:09

Po, thanks for your very supportive comment. Your words, it’s time to sober up, are very apt.
Keith

keith jeffries

Sun 12th Jul 2020 20:25

Brian, thank you. If we don't strive for this ideal the alternative is more of the same which will achieve nothing. A new paradigm is urgently sought.
Thank you for your comment
Keith

<Deleted User> (18980)

Sun 12th Jul 2020 19:15

It's a wonderful idea Keith but I suspect that even as you were writing it you knew that it could only ever exist as words on a page.

Perhaps in Heaven, if such a place actually exists.

Good, well written piece.

keith jeffries

Sun 12th Jul 2020 17:57

I regard the inequality of wealth as a serious if not insurmountable obstacle to any form of human advancement. Nationalism fosters greed and humanity at large becomes the victim of strife. There is no need of winners and losers as the vanquished are never allowed to develop and release their potential. Otherwise we all condemn ourselves to a futile struggle. Thank you for your comment. Keith

M.C. Newberry

Sun 12th Jul 2020 15:15

The message is plain enough but we are up against the endless
contradictions that are endemic in the human story.
Mankind is on an endless quest
Enduring the worst while seeking the best.

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