PROGRESS; LIFE AND LIVING
Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 2:48 pm
Progress – LIFE AND LIVING
PROGRESS – Life and Living.
Newspapers books and Magazines are different from the past
With the pictures words and format rearranged.
The striving and the needs of the people seem to last,
It is only sights and sounds that since have changed.
The buildings are now taller, and the walls are glass not stone.
The vehicles make more noise than horse-drawn carts.
There are super-market chains, instead of shops, that stood alone,
And sold everything from nails to apple tarts.
Mr Lawson penned his verses of the people in the city,
And saw the gutter children fighting in the dust.
He looked out on their faces with sorrow and with pity
But did not let them know whom they could trust.
Our people of all ages, still squat in doorways of the shops,
Or in great big cardboard boxes they call home.
The run-a-ways and homeless, as street-wise as the cops
Are left, with no alternative but to roam.
With taxes and excise filling States’ and Federal coffers,
All our governments today have enough to share
With all folk in need; fathers, children, mothers
Without a home, without food, wanting; needing care.
Sorrow and pity cannot shield our folk from harm,
When the need is for stability, by putting wrong to right,
Pity and sorrow does not hold any worth or charm,
Or keep people warm on cold wet winter’s nights
The goodness of our countries and our peoples are renowned,
For helping all in need and giving what they can,
To people in large cities’ or dusty outback towns,
Wherever the need is present, whether woman, child or man.
The Salvation Army, St Vinnie’s and there are others
Seeking funds from us, to make them go around;
Helping all in need, daughters, sisters, sons and brothers,
We must continue fighting poverty, wherever it is found.
© 2011
Faces in the Street, The World of Henry Lawson 1867-1922,
Publisher, Paul Hamlyn, inspired me to pen this poem.
PROGRESS – Life and Living.
Newspapers books and Magazines are different from the past
With the pictures words and format rearranged.
The striving and the needs of the people seem to last,
It is only sights and sounds that since have changed.
The buildings are now taller, and the walls are glass not stone.
The vehicles make more noise than horse-drawn carts.
There are super-market chains, instead of shops, that stood alone,
And sold everything from nails to apple tarts.
Mr Lawson penned his verses of the people in the city,
And saw the gutter children fighting in the dust.
He looked out on their faces with sorrow and with pity
But did not let them know whom they could trust.
Our people of all ages, still squat in doorways of the shops,
Or in great big cardboard boxes they call home.
The run-a-ways and homeless, as street-wise as the cops
Are left, with no alternative but to roam.
With taxes and excise filling States’ and Federal coffers,
All our governments today have enough to share
With all folk in need; fathers, children, mothers
Without a home, without food, wanting; needing care.
Sorrow and pity cannot shield our folk from harm,
When the need is for stability, by putting wrong to right,
Pity and sorrow does not hold any worth or charm,
Or keep people warm on cold wet winter’s nights
The goodness of our countries and our peoples are renowned,
For helping all in need and giving what they can,
To people in large cities’ or dusty outback towns,
Wherever the need is present, whether woman, child or man.
The Salvation Army, St Vinnie’s and there are others
Seeking funds from us, to make them go around;
Helping all in need, daughters, sisters, sons and brothers,
We must continue fighting poverty, wherever it is found.
© 2011
Faces in the Street, The World of Henry Lawson 1867-1922,
Publisher, Paul Hamlyn, inspired me to pen this poem.
those last two verses need reworking.