Poverty is not a Calling
Poverty is not a calling,
Even if the priests think it is.
Poverty is a distraction,
The intellectual must think it so.
Think of the books you could have bought
Had you had money,
Or the food you may have eaten
In a posh hotel.
You soak garri in water
And wipe your mouth,
Then put on a fine shirt
So no one will know.
You are a lie - you know you want more;
Chicken dipped in sauce
And maybe some wine too,
But you cannot afford it.
You are ill
And so run to the chemist;
No doctor for you,
A card is three hundred naira.
Pain killers, multivitamins and blood capsules,
You will still have change;
Why then bother with the syringe
Or the bespectacled grave face?
You see?
Poverty denies you the good life;
You cannot do what
Your seeming betters do.
You discover it is a sad state,
Poverty is not a calling;
We both know that,
Even if we pretend not to.
poem by Samuel Nze
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Sonnet: The Magic of Poverty
A birth in poverty is luck supreme!
A death in poverty, a great blessing;
A life of poverty is rare a dream;
Achievements great, stark poverty can bring.
’Tis poverty that goads nations do feats;
’Tis poverty that stimulates scientists;
In everything, poverty, wealth just beats;
The greatest men were in poverty’s lists.
And poverty lessens our worries much;
Account to God will be much easier;
Poverty gives the saint a divine touch;
In poverty, poets can fly higher!
Poverty helps to shun worldly pleasures;
A soul in poverty, Heaven allures.
9-14-2002
poem by John Celes
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Poverty
To get a card of
Below poverty line
I have to spot a person
Who has a link with Maoists.
Some says the head of the
Government of the state
Is the leader of maoists
Catchhold him seriously.
Who is poor and
How far in poverty
I am not here to
Measured or explain or
Eradicate poverty.
Without poverty the
Functioning of the
Government is difficult
As you know.
To get a card of
Below poverty line
Is to rebuild
The government and
You must agree
The rich how dear.
poem by Gajanan Mishra
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Poverty In The 21st Century
It’s the 21st century
The media displays it day and night,
Poverty.
Poverty across the globe lies
Poverty cries out from the belly of little boys
Little girls, parents too
Desperately searching for food,
Shelter, clothing, for love,
Companion, for attention
Those with plenty, refuse
To amend, a world haunted by
Poverty.
Is poverty affecting the rich?
Are their poverty the same
As the poor in financial constrains?
For they, too, poverty of love
I see poverty in the learned
I see poverty in those whose
Selfish acts are destroying society.
I see poverty in all level of humanity
The world is still an imperfect place
Yet life is still beautiful, the wind
Blows, we see it not, give thanks
For what you possess, now go,
Help if you can along the way,
Help to eradicate poverty
In your surrounding, widen
Your boundary across your
Country, to nations of the world.
Help to fight poverty, now!
poem by Winston Harding
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Poverty-II
Satiated, desiring but not having enough food to offer some, is also poverty,
Sheltered, wishing, but failing to accommodate a guest, is also poverty,
Treated, prescribed, but unable to effort better treatment is also poverty,
Clothed, requiring but can't afford sufficient to meet the need is also poverty,
Educating, meritorious, but failing to provide better education is also poverty,
Social, invited but avoiding a ceremony to avoid buying a gift is also poverty,
Celebration, aspiring but fearing expenses not celebrating is also poverty,
Friend in distress, desiring but incompetent to help a friend is also poverty,
oppressed, rights denied, deciding but failing to buy justice is also poverty,
Time elapsed but not repaying debts for not having money is also poverty.
.
.
posted on 31-07-2008
Copyright ©®2008, Palas Kumar Ray. All rights reserved.
poem by Palas kumar Ray
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The Shadow Inside My Shadow
poverty is not my cousin,
is not my lover,
is not my preacher,
poverty is not my brother.
poverty is not my prayer,
or the song that i sing
is not my answer
poverty is not my dream.
poverty is not my teacher,
not the hand that i hold.
poverty is not my anger,
not my spirit, not my soul.
ah! but this poverty is real
it races thru my mind
crashes into my heart,
& leaves me deaf and blind.
poverty is my companion.
the aching cold inside my hollow.
the blow behind my eyes,
poverty is the shadow
inside my shadow.
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Poverty-I
Lot of hunger and having no food is poverty,
Not having spare cloth to take bath is poverty,
Needing a shelter but not having one is poverty,
Child's sick but can not buy treatment, is poverty,
Fainting child dreaming a mouthful of rice is poverty
Searching warmth in cold flesh in winter nights, is poverty,
Sitting with umbrella on wetting bed in showering night, is poverty,
Thoughtful mother, two mouthful of rice and three children, is poverty,
An ill, deserted mother selling her child wishing it will survive, is poverty.
A defeated and desponded mother poisoning and killing her child is poverty,
.
.
posted on 31-07-2008
Copyright ©®2008, Palas Kumar Ray. All rights reserved.
poem by Palas kumar Ray
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Poverty and Indigence.
Poverty and Indigence.
Is it poverty, ?
Is it indigence, ?
The Master of Paranoia,
Do they know poverty, ?
When they lack troth,
When you are in poverty,
Theres no water,
No clothes,
No basic needs,
Indigence is when you are in the streets,
You keep on calling,
Saying,
I be here and saying I'm poor,
You're rich, oh stiff creature,
You're having eyes and can walk,
Lovable creature,
You never missed a single bliss since Creation,
You're never poor,
Ever rich,
Forever rich for the Heavenly Sanctuary.
poem by Maxim Muyu
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21st Century Cries.
21st century cries.
World has advanced in many ways, yet poverty still cries.
Looking at this old man with tears in his eyes.
Desperately searching for food love and clothes.
We all know what it clearly indicates and shows.
I see poverty in a rich man trying to break the law.
I see poverty in a well-educated man who thinks the subject is a bore.
I see poverty in a literate man who lacks respect for poor.
I see poverty in you yes you who wants more and more.
Written by salma torrez.
copyright.
poem by Salma. Torrez
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We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.
quote by Mother Teresa
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Poem Of Our Souls
Our seeking went beyond
sheding of tears,
out of enough we lost
jugdment, pain of the past
has thoroughly touch
me in an unpeaceful
place...
Penury and poverty has
turn me into mischief,
richies yet penury disagree
my wealth
our jubilation don't last
long yet tribulation
cometh
in notime,
poverty can jubilate without
fear of jugdment.
Penury.....
Penury has eatup
our plenty, poverty
now call us poor
poverty creeps into our
life and eat, drink
what we had left
in our store yet
he still pronounce us
penury.
Our souls walks alone
kings seeks shelter in
th darkcold wintet
calling on motherearth
to favour our pocket
puting penny into
penury still nothing can
change by chance
poem of our
souls'.
poem by Senator alufalism
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On The Poverty Line
A mother and grandmother near the end of her life
To an unworthy fellow she was a good wife
Without provocation her he often did beat
But at least she feels happy she is not on the street
As a homeless person struggling for to make ends meet
Without a roof over her head and with little to eat
And though she cannot afford to go out for to wine and to dine
She feels happy to live on the poverty line.
The hard life has left her with lines on her face
But poverty she is happy to embrace
One of the people by society forgot
But she is not one to complain of her lot.
For millions and millions life is so unfair
And so many more like her in the big World out there
For millions a huge struggle just to get by
For success they no longer bother to try.
Her ex husband left her for a younger woman a decade ago
She is better without him that much she does know
She took his abuse and his every blow
But any bitterness towards him she never does show.
She lives as a good person and spiritually pure
But she does not know how it feels to live as financially secure
She never eats out never tasted good wine
The one who exists on the poverty line.
poem by Francis Duggan
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Ode to Poverty
poetry in progress
i have seen poverty
climb stairs to make
that morning paper
available at the top floor
i have seen poverty
climb stairs to sell that
wrapped farm chicken
quiet and bowed,
in a one star hotel
i have seen poverty light
oil lamp in the dead of night
with the hope to leap from rags
to cosier enclave through
pen and ink, alphabets,
arab numerals, mind spinning algebras,
logarithms, and medical lexicons
i have seen poverty
take men across turbulent seas
oceans, to strange lands
to make money for home
thousands of miles away
i have seen poverty sweats
from dawn till dusk
under the tropical sun
smoothening highways,
coating multi-storey buildings
i have seen poverty carry
a senile Chinese woman on
shoulders up a famous hill resort
she to admire her honeymoon spot
he to put meals on the table
for mom and dad, brothers and sisters
i have seen poverty gulp
men and women in the seas,
throw them helter skelter
in a murderous web of human
trafficking and slavery
i have seen poverty turn
graceful beautiful maidens
into thin, nerve wracking
frames, wrinkles and flesh
driven to the edge of existence
poem by John Tiong Chunghoo
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Tears Of Poverty
Only there is God
who can feel
the pain
and tears of poverty.
Life do not pass
Time stops its needle
to swing around
Only clouds of
grief and pain
seen surround.
No friends
No help
No sympathy
only there is a
hope that
this darkness of
poverty will
disappear
keep a person alive.
God only see
the tears of
poverty
try to say
you can change
your fate only
with your will power.
Go ahead
I must help you.
I also do not
want to spoil
your tears. Because
darkness never
stay long.
poem by Sanjib Mallick
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Poverty Doesn’t Laugh
Fill the rivers,
With poverty’s tears,
Only then will they be filled with innocent water.
The brick that fills poverty’s throat
Should be filled with heaven’s food
Not hell’s slaughter.
Poverty’s hands should not be,
As empty as our hearts.
Their feet should not feel the piercing sand
While we rot in cars.
Poverty’s teeth are famished
Because they bite empty air,
Our teeth are stuffed with arrogance
Until our blessings with be stripped bare
In the night of hell
When guilt will crawl upon us
The worms and snakes of our sins
Will pierce venom through our selfishness
And there we will stand
Bare of all our blessings
The naked truth for the world to see
Will be paraded across poverty’s eyes
But they will not laugh.
poem by Mehreen Mujeeb
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Poverty is relative, and the lack of food and of the necessities of life is not necessarily a hardship. Spiritual and social ostracism, the invasion of your privacy, are what constitute the pain of poverty.
quote by Alice Foote MacDougall
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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35
Some are not really causes
But just symptoms
And we misdiagnose
A sickness
For a symptom
Of the real sickness
The cause
And the effect
Are often interchanged
For instance
Is poverty the cause
Of crime
Or is poverty
Only the symptom
Of it?
For instance
Is ignorance
The cause of poverty
Or is it simply
An effect of poverty?
Or is poverty
Nothing but an effect
Of ignorance?
Or is poverty
Just an effect
Of an oppression
Of the rich
Taking much
From the poor
Who gets poorer
Everyday
Because there
Are no reforms
Coming
To solve
His poverty
His ignorance
His having to commit a crime
To survive
His poverty
His ignorance
His being a crime
Of
Society itself
who never cared
And wanted him
Who never
Instituted the much
Promised reforms?
And so you doubt
The cause and effect
The effect from cause
And if you did not mind so
Well
They may always be
Interchanged
And mistaken
For the symptoms
The conditions
That always
Are
there deceiving.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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About The Cause And The Effect
Some are not really causes
But just symptoms
And we misdiagnose
A sickness
For a symptom
Of the real sickness
The cause
And the effect
Are often interchanged
For instance
Is poverty the cause
Of crime
Or is poverty
Only the symptom
Of it?
For instance
Is ignorance
The cause of poverty
Or is it simply
An effect of poverty?
Or is poverty
Nothing but an effect
Of ignorance?
Or is poverty
Just an effect
Of an oppression
Of the rich
Taking much
From the poor
Who gets poorer
Everyday
Because there
Are no reforms
Coming
To solve
His poverty
His ignorance
His having to commit a crime
To survive
His poverty
His ignorance
His being a crime
Of
Society itself
who never cared
And wanted him
Who never
Instituted the much
Promised reforms?
And so you doubt
The cause and effect
The effect from cause
And if you did not mind so
Well
They may always be
Interchanged
And mistaken
For the symptoms
The conditions
That always
Are
there deceiving.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Cause and effect
Some are not really causes
But just symptoms
And we misdiagnose
A sickness
For a symptom
Of the real sickness
The cause
And the effect
Are often interchanged
For instance
Is poverty the cause
Of crime
Or is poverty
Only the symptom
Of it?
For instance
Is ignorance
The cause of poverty
Or is it simply
An effect of poverty?
Or is poverty
Nothing but an effect
Of ignorance?
Or is poverty
Just an effect
Of an oppression
Of the rich
Taking much
From the poor
Who gets poorer
Everyday
Because there
Are no reforms
Coming
To solve
His poverty
His ignorance
His having to commit a crime
To survive
His poverty
His ignorance
His being a crime
Of
Society itself
who never cared
And wanted him
Who never
Instituted the much
Promised reforms?
And so you doubt
The cause and effect
The effect from cause
And if you did not mind so
Well
They may always be
Interchanged
And mistaken
For the symptoms
The conditions
That always
Are
there deceiving.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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We have mistaken the nature of poverty, and thought it was economic poverty. No, it is poverty of soul, deprivation of God's recreating, loving peace.
quote by Thomas R. Kelly
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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(Africa poems) I wallow alone in my poverty
Do not come to haul
Me out of my poverty.Rush
To end your own poverty
Of the spirit.I wallow alone
In my sea of poverty
poem by Ngaka Motaung
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