by Johnny Carlton

This poem was first published in the World Vision magazine under the Johnny Giesbrecht byline. 

Copyright 2012 Johnny Giesbrecht

Johnny Carlton is a writer of suspense thrillers available as e-books at www.amazon.com

 

There are worlds of hollow pain,

Where stick-legged babies look like pregnant dwarfs.

 

There are worlds of violent noise,

Of rocket fire and blood,

Where angry men destroy each other’s dreams.

 

There are worlds of walking dead,

Whose present ant-minds, once by God for freedom made,

Now cower before the god called State.

 

There are worlds of sand and sea

And palm trees waving peacefully

Over voodoo drums and hearts that know no peace.

 

There are worlds of hollow needles

Puking poison into ruptured veins;

And souls, marked up with needle tracks,

Float in and out from shores of paradise to shores of hell,

And now and then cry out for help.

 

There are worlds of shoulder-padded suits,

And women’s hemlines changing every year,

Where credit cards are wielded

With an awesome power, like Merlin’s wand.

 

Does the hungry child believe

That somewhere out there gleams a world of food

And warmth and pretty neon lights?

 

Do people torn by war from birth to death

Believe there is, somewhere and far away,

Some Shangri-La of peace?

 

Do human puppets

Moved about by strings of steel

Believe there is a world where all are free?

 

Does the voodoo witch believe

A world exists where magic spells are scorned?

 

Does the creature with the needle scars

Look past the cockroach crawling through a plaster crack

And see, beyond, a world

Where men are masters of their minds?

 

And does that man in suit and vest,

Sixth pew from the front,

Whose bank account and will and lawn

Are all kept tidy as a robin’s nest–

Does he see, in the message with its mission theme,

Those worlds where hunger, pain, and fear run wild?

He looks, he reads, he hears,

Then speaks with sorrow in his voice of all those tears.

But does he, in his heart,

Believe those other worlds exist?

 

There are many worlds where Jesus is not known,

Nor is the peace he gives,

But only darkness waiting for the light.