COMMON VOICE ISSUE ONE February-April 2004
Untitled Poem
Hope is the problem, purely, simply said,
that clouds the eyes and weaves a gauzy strand
'cross wrists and ankles, tethers biceps, tongue.
It drugs th' essential brain and will of man
until content with hope and hope alone,
addicted to the lie, he'll sit and wait.
While dreaming, hoping for that better life,
he twiddles thumbs and eats what's on his plate.
Unlike its human counterpart, the bee
knows just what must be done and goes to task
and whether it be worker, drone, or queen,
lives for the hive and not what people ask.
So, too, may men in common, truly free,
abolish hunger, war, and poverty.
Esther O'Donald Fruth, 2003