Poetry

UN photo

By

Susan Kahil

Seven Billion People

Seven billion people and increasingly more

With themselves or each other always at war

Seven billion or more mouths to feed

Some die of starvation others from greed

Over seven billion people scattered over the earth

A constant river flow a stream of death and birth

Seven billion or more purposes right or wrong

Each one singing incomplete words to their song

Seven billion people many multiplying into more

Who is it anyway who keeps the damn score?

Zillions of lies upon a few truths

Billions of trees cut off from their roots

Countless breaths each second taken

Only a minority opened minds to awaken

Seven billion people and still counting

Totaling separation all of one fountain

Billions of souls crying out ‘love me’

Billions of people shouting ‘set me free’

How many prayers to how many Gods

How many peas and how many pods

Seven billion and more beating hearts

All of which know we cannot be apart

Over seven billion egos saying me, myself and I

All asking the same question ‘why oh why’

Billion beings joined together as one

Each a golden ray from our loving Sun

Humanity’s Fickleness

Is it not strange how we discriminate against colour of skin?

This should be classed as one of the greatest so-called ‘sins’

Our race, religion and caste are divided into parts

This was never the tune to be played inside our hearts

Indeed, we all seem to bleed in a gory red

Breathe the same air and need to be fed

However, what about the ‘type’ of blood we each are?

Any two from any race can be an equal note and bar

Transfusion is possible between the darkest and pale

Be you illiterate or a professor at the University of Yale

Only by the shades of how much melanin we took

Places us into a category of how one looks

A layer of epidermis covered crusted hide

Leathery cutis tissue shredded flakily dried

Who can tell which ‘sangre’ is in each one?

Segregation from the stamped mark of the sun

We do not judge blood kind, as it is not directly shown.

Unless under a laboratory microscope shown

Can you imagine the total mess and confusion?

Being singled out by a lettered coded illusion

Separated by erythropoiesis stems into hemoglobin tribes

Claiming superiority by lineages, antigens on their side

We are all stamped with a unique printed sign

Our skins and blood type are perfectly fine

It is our minds that we really need to fix

Humanity split into a diverse jumbled pix and mix

Both poems are featured in ‘Starlight Translated: Book 1: Blinded Visions‘

Susan Kahil

Susan Kahil, singer/songwriter/poet, is originally from the UK but has lived in Southern Spain for the past twelve years. In a secluded mountain valley on her olive, orange and avocado farm, surrounded by nature and wildlife is where she gets her inspiration for poetry and original songs. Some of her recent work can be seen in the Poets Anthology ‘Dandelion in a Vase’ and several poems in ‘Raven Cage Ezine’. Susan likes to look for the beauty and infinite potential in all things.