Lament of the Poor of my Country

By Prof. Ed M. Villegas, PhD

You only pass by to see how we live,
When elections draw near and votes are needed,
You only come to stay in our dirty place,
Because you aim to have good grades,
You only took into our sufferings to fill your paintings.

But where were you when your brothers and sisters,
Slowly wither away in hunger and despair?
Where were you when they lie dying in misery?
When our children fell into the mire of ignorance,
Enslaved by evil men for profit and pleasures?

We do not need your false sympathies and condescension,
We do not need your dole-outs to perpetuate this system,
Where the few draw their comforts from the sweat of workers, 
Where the money of the many are stolen by the parasitical rich,
And the poor, unable to find jobs, desperate to survive, are slain, Exhibited as drug addicts, criminals and enemies of the state.
Where rule rapacious moguls with heartless souls.

The day shall come when we shall rise from the gutters of the earth,
The day shall come when with minds enlightened, side by side,
We will smash the very foundations of this unjust society,
So that free, we can at last create our own destiny.