Poem: Discarded

The streets of life are full

Young people dumped on every corner

Left to forage for an elusive life of opulence

Sold a barrage of ideas at a price of gold

Their education has become some sort of scam

There are no teachers in the streets

Just life with its sharpened claws and crowbars

Ready to pounce on the weak and vulnerable

Alcohol and drug abuse are the latest items

On the outstretched shelves of their young minds

They have no idea where the next meal is coming from

Forced to combat the scourge of Covid-19 pandemic on empty stomachs

They are facing multiple issues at once

Mental health issues are about to show up

On their neatly polished mental framework

It is a terrible time for those from far away

With no families to support them

They are left holding to the street corners

Loitering at night with a tinge of shanty look

To entice the night crawlers

They are attempting to turn the darkened streets into powerful businesses

It is not a scene from the latest movies

It is the harsh realities of today’s world

It is a sad reality that is often left unsaid

Not pasted on the billboards of life

Just left to the forces of nature

To tear it into pieces of pure sorrow

©Kenneth Maswabi