Student Publishing Program ::

Kartikeya Shastri

Voices of Multitude

Righteousness yearns,
Forgiveness longs.
Judgment concerns
our rights and wrongs.

Poverty beckons,
Hunger ensues.
Suffering reckons
with inner-city blues.

Salvation calls,
Uncertainty fears.
Deliverance falls
as spiritual tears.

Depression pains,
Persecution stings.
Discrimination stains
what opportunity brings.

Atonement wails,
Redemption cries.
Abominations hail
from deliberate lies

Destruction rains from a sovereign sky,
as innocent villagers die.
Survival begs of an orphaned child,
and I am asking why.

Nations now can barely stand,
upon a bomb-infested land.
Death targets its populous hills,
and I don't understand.

Dreadful nights inspire few dreams,
as a flicker of hope, for means.
Disease attacks the mother village,
and all I hear are screams.

Countries ebb away to dust,
from a war waged in disgust.
Peace erodes from negotiations,
and I can see the rust.

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