If I die before I wake

12 Sep 2013

If I die before I wake

never mind the world ends today
and you left so many
things undone

never mind the starving children
throughout the world
who could easily be fed
with a little capital
and alien ingenuity

never mind the excessive waste
you selfishly accumulated
and contributed
toward urban ski slopes
and 18 hole golf courses

as the world ends today
never mind racial bias
gender bias
religious bias
nationality bias
and any kind of intriguing international bias

never mind discrimination
and mistrust
especially of crooked governments
and wars unjust

never mind outspokenly peaceful men
becoming silenced as we speak
by programs perpetuated
by deceit and hatred
by programs advocating
five o’clock killings
for everyone to see

never mind all the work undone
before the world ends today
never mind how it must bother you
knowing the story
never changes

september two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry and tagged bias, death, history, humanity, poem, poetry, repetition, war

15 thoughts on “If I die before I wake”

ghostbusterbev on September 13, 2013 at 10:16 am said:

Thank you for this wake-up call for all the work that has yet to be done.

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- j matthew waters on September 13, 2013 at 5:25 pm said:
  
  My pleasure, Beverley, but you seem to me to always be one step ahead of things! Thanks for stopping by and keep up the great blog work ;`)
  
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ljlenehan on September 15, 2013 at 9:24 am said:

Overwhelmingly true and sad… *sigh*

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- j matthew waters on September 15, 2013 at 9:28 am said:
  
  Thank you my friend. Time for something a little upbeat though ;`)
  
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  - ljlenehan on September 15, 2013 at 9:29 am said:
    
    Yes… You write one first and I will follow… Tell me the theme… 🙂
  - j matthew waters on September 15, 2013 at 9:31 am said:
    
    I will send you a tweet once I figure it out!
  - ljlenehan on September 15, 2013 at 9:32 am said:
    
    Ok… Looking forward to it…
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) on September 15, 2013 at 2:59 pm said:

So sad and true John… this hits hard and I love it.

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- j matthew waters on September 15, 2013 at 3:51 pm said:
  
  Thanks so much, Björn. I appreciate the comment and also sharing via twitter ;`)
  
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silly_gooseTess (@bySA_Tweets) on September 21, 2013 at 8:26 pm said:

Powerful. Quite a lot to think about. A poem in the tradition of Jonathan Swift– “A Modest Proposal”; i.e., the final few paragraphs of his essay. The world needs more poems like your “If I die…”

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- j matthew waters on September 21, 2013 at 8:34 pm said:
  
  Thank you, Tess. An interesting connection to a wonderful essay I had not thought of until now.
  
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dragonlife on October 6, 2013 at 6:06 pm said:

“Masters of War”?
Great work!
I’m old enough to know you are so right!
Greetings from the most peaceful country in the world, Japan! Not perfect, mind you!

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- j matthew waters on October 6, 2013 at 6:12 pm said:
  
  merci beaucoup de votre visite ici et en commentant mon poème
  
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lscotthoughts on October 8, 2013 at 7:29 pm said:

Very powerful, John, and sadly, true…great poem!

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- j matthew waters on October 8, 2013 at 8:40 pm said:
  
  thanks so much Lauren – always appreciate of your visits and comments
  
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