In this moment

A man's a man for all that? (Robert Burns)

In this moment we …

 

wake and listen to music on the radio

 

say good morning to each other

 

enjoy tea in bed before we rise

 

enjoy coffee and croissant for breakfast

 

read the Sunday newspapers

 

skype our younger son in Australia

 

spend time tidying the garden

 

visit a cafe with friends

 

walk in the country and enjoy the views

 

drive down to the coast to visit my mother

 

take her out for tea and cake

 

 

 

In this moment I …..

 

am now adrift in the Mediterranean with my three children, we have not eaten nor had water for days

 

live in Iraq, Islamic state have just captured our village, seven of our men have been beheaded

 

have been in death row in Texas for seventeen years, in three days I will be executed by lethal injection. I am innocent. I am black

 

have been a prisoner in work camp 27B in North Korea, we are worked to death and eat grass, rats and insects to survive,  are beaten on any excuse and on none

 

have been held in a Syrian army detention centre for eight months. We are beaten and subjected to torture daily.  No one know I am here.

 

am in a Saudi prison, I am a journalist.  This morning I will taken to the yard and given my weekly 50 lashes, my sentence is 1000 lashes. My crime was writing about the royal family.

 

am eleven years old; I am a child soldier in Africa. Last week I killed two people with a machete

 

am from Romania, I am eighteen years old. I came to Britain with the promise of hotel work but when I arrived I was locked in a room, beaten, raped and now I am forced to work as a prostitute.

 

 

In this moment we ….

 

are visited by our elder son and chat about the week

 

all go to a local pub for an evening meal

 

watch the latest drama on television

 

enjoy a bottle of French wine

 

listen to the  latest news before bed

 

complain that all we hear is bad news

 

Reviews

[Armistead Lindsey]

yet another one of your poems where I had to walk away and come back before writing any kind of response.

the contrast used between the typical day to day person going about their respective live and the immersive middle section where it places you in the shoes of those who are living in the worlds atrocities is extremely effective. it made me sit back and really reflect about the awful things we forget are happening all the time.

the final line perfectly summarizes how desensitized we have become to the goings on of the world, and how we dismiss it as a blight on our own lives without fully thinking about the reality faced by those in the 'bad news'.

Another fantastic piece!

[alanwgraham]

Apologies for slightly late reply to your wonderfully kind words Armistead. Yes - what a wonderful and awful world we live in.,
I hope you are still sharing your own great words.
Alan

[TrimarcoRansome]

A stark contrast of our Midas lives, which so many complain of...Comparative to others misfortunes which most never even fleetingly think of. If the negative attributes of possession of Money Greed and Power were to be taught in schools, just maybe future generations might work towards making the world a fairer and safer place.
I like the way you used the centre of the poem for the raw reality and continued as if nothing had happened between the 1st and 3rd... Just like most peoples lives!

[alanwgraham]

Thanks for your very thoughtful review. What is worrying is that many never want to hear of these awful things.
Regards,
Alan

[TrimarcoRansome]

Most have become desensitised from hearing it on the media, like the conflicts we have heard about since we were children, or until something happens on our door steps no one listens. That is the power of media which is our biggest issue.

[Maria12]

Yes, it is a very fine write.I think of these things when I am down and grieving.I have a nice home and enough money.All we can do is do what you have done here and in my case I donate to a Charity what helps victims of torture.Awareness must have some effect.Some people pray to God to help their team wina football match.If God could not stop Hitler,War and genocide how can we ask him io her to give us success in trivial matters?

[Papaya]

In this moment I am aware of how truly fortunate I am.
Even though my life is not perfect, I do have many perfect things in it.
A very eye opening and mind opening contribution Alan.

[alanwgraham]

Thanks papaya. It is good to raise our heads from time to time.
Regards alan

[An owl on the moon]

Such a dichotomy of pleasures and pain, of the joys and simplicity of one world, and the terrors and horrors of so many others worlds. I appreciate your willingness to share something so powerfully moving, and so needed in this day and age when too many have grown numb or uncaring.

[alanwgraham]

Thanks, I think the world would be a better place if we all empathised with our fellow mortals.
read moreThanks, I think the world would be a better place if we all empathised with our fellow mortals.
Keep going with your own writing!
Regards, Alan

Regards, alan

[alanwgraham]

Sorry - not sure what happened to that post!
Stick in with your own writing! I've just been given an exercise to write a letter to my younger self. A very thought provoking exercise!
Regards,Alan

[hi]

:( this poem hurt,

i cant even say how good this poem was,

i love it because at first i was thinking it was going to be about life and death,
but after i read it, it was deep, it was about a how different people go threw each day at the same time,
in different places of the world

[alanwgraham]

Thanks for reading this and your kind review. I had this idea some time ago but I hesitated to put this on the site. I'm always amazed at how unaware many people are at what is really going on the world. We should always be asking questions about why things are as they are.
Cheers,
Alan