Backtracking #4

I
We live in a world where love
Is counted on machines
And credited on plastic
Where human lives are measured
By bullets through their hearts
And the tears their children cried—

I.i
Where parents bury their sons;
Their temples kissed by guns
Where mothers smile in pain
And lovers cry in vain
Where one man’s dream
Spells death for thousands others
Poverty for another million
And orphanage for countless children
Where in glutton and greed we exist
Forgetting compassion, love, mercy.

II
Let us run from this city
Where love is a blasphemy
Let us go where our hearts lead
Where we’ll find ourselves freed
Where the sunlight falls through our windows
And nothing is obscured by the shadows
Where we can live out today
Say goodbye to yesterday
And eagerly awaits tomorrow
Where we smile for joy, not in pain
And cry for sorrow, not in vain
Where dulled spirits flourish anew
And in hope we grow, both me and you.