TWO WORLDS

It's a crazy world …
Our so-called 'civilised' one,
Where the poor are fat
And the rich are thin.

And where eating for 'comfort'
Only makes you unhappy.
And using 'Comfort' means
Your clothes will smell 'fresh'.

Where you hate yourself daily
Because you're never going to be good enough, rich enough,
Thin enough, or clever enough to please the people that seem to matter.
And you wonder what happiness really is.

Where you have to take a pill
To feel the real ecstasy denied you.
Drinking yourself to the point of oblivion
To feel that you're having 'fun'.

Where you're a slave to that fairground ride
You can never get off, even when you've had enough.
You need money to live, but you're born to shop …
The TV says so … now go out and spend it.

Where there seems to be no time for anything now.
Work, play, sleep, and work again. The day's a race
To cram it all in … you're never gonna win.
You're overloaded and too tired to feel happy.

And as you look at yourself in the mirror
And see exhaustion staring back,
You think …this isn't how it was meant to be.
Yes, it's a crazy upside-down world.

While in that other distant world,
The poor are thin and the rich are fat.
Where a cow is your true wealth,
And you're lucky if you see old age.

Where your babies die because you can't sustain them.
It's not your fault, but you still feel the guilt,
The same love, the same pain. But instead of blaming 'the system'
You shake your fist at the sky, cursing the lack of rain.

Where every day must be spent fetching water, walking
Maybe five miles there and slowly back again under the merciless sun.
Where you toil all day for less than the price of a gallon of gas …
And you know you're far luckier than some.

Where you don't know the concept of 'fair' and 'unfair',
You just do what has to be done, praying your gods will allow you
To survive that day, and the next, and the next …
Until your well, prematurely worn-out, runs dry.

And both worlds dream of a time, long gone now,
When life was slow, ruled by the sun and the moon and seasons.
Where there weren't so many people, daily squandering their resources,
Fighting, battling to stay alive … to merely survive.

So just let go now, and stop trying so hard … for the people
You love and those who love you. Even when it feels like
You can never stop running. Because, at the end of the day, your precious life
Will be wasted … when you're running on empty … when you're dead.