Food waste

One plus one equals two
Us equals me plus you (plus you)
Simple equations, simply stated
Leaves our satisfaction sated

Some things are fun to make equations for
Like food plus hunger equals hunger no more
Isn't that simple? Clean and Nice.
So fun, in fact, let's state it twice.

Food plus hunger equals hunger for some
Isn't that cool...wait....hmmm
Somethings gone wrong. That's not right.
Ok, maybe in cases of famine or blight.

Lots of food plus hunger...still equals some hunger left.
Despite the abundance, we leave some bereft.
We've skewed the mathematics to one side
To leave some feeling empty inside

How to balance it? Well there's easy tricks
But some things in life are hard to fix
That doesn't mean that it's not worth a try
If enough people starting thinking blue sky

So for those of us who can't affect agricultural scale
Or global distributions and all that would entail
Look local instead, and share what you can
Balance the equation for one more human

The hero fell

The hero fell,
as the people watched

Why could they not stop staring?
At the fall of a hero who would not stop caring?

Did some watch because otherwise, they would not believe it true?
The destruction of a person and they thought above me and you?

Did some watch out of delight, to see they who flew high lose their wings?
Were they satisfied to see that the uncaged bird no longer sings?

Did some watch out of disbelief, because they had been taught to believe,
That in some way, somehow, the hero always finds their reprieve?

Did some watch out of cynicism, happy to see them fall from high?
Using the fall as proof that the hero could never have flown in the sky?


Maybe, amongst the crowd, was the one who plotted the hero's fall
Perhaps scared, perhaps happy, possibly even a bit regretful


The hero fell,
But I do not know why the people watched.
Maybe they didn't know either.
I didn't.

Grief

Do you know the odd thing about the symptoms of disease?
When your coughing and sneezing and stuck in bed?
Those things which are our body responding to something not right with us
Are instead the things that can wreck us beyond repair

Do you know the odd thing about grief?
When despair and sadness fill up our head?
That thing which is our body responding to something not right with the world
Is instead the thing that can wreck us beyond repair

We can cure symptoms with pills
Or our body fixing itself to become right
I know that a doctor's advice will never go amiss
Allowing us to become healthy once more

I do not know how to cure grief
Especially when that which causes grief is something we can't fix
But I do know that compassion and love will never go amiss
To give us faith and hope for the world in store

Refugee's pain

Imagine, right now, there was a country you could escape to.
A country where you could hug friends and go to the pub too.
A place where your grandparents would not be in danger.
With a good school for your kids, where you could shake hands with strangers.
A place where you could be assured a bed in a hospital if you were sick.
I'm sure most of you would choose to escape to that country pretty quick.

Then imagine that things were worse - a country at war
Guns echoing in the streets outside your door
Mines in the ground as danger unseen
Drones judging killers through tv screens
Then realise this reality is why people flee
And they would take on the label of "refugee"

This reality you want to flee from so badly?
They would accept this situation gladly
That's not to say you can't complain
Nor that you aren't allow to make exasperated exclaims

Just to let you realise, in your most scary situation.
Though it is painful, with little elation.
We will mostly get through this. Things will get better for us.
The same is not true for all Earth's populous

We are closer to them than ever before
So when this is over, do not slam your door

Take a chance for empathy, to really feel
And accept that a refugee's pain is real