A street child is begging for a slice of bread,
His dull black eyes spelling hopeless despair…
A woman neatly dressed in a luxurious coat
Quickly looks away, then crosses the road.
A limousine driver brakes excessively,
Hoots in anger, shouts aggressively
As a wasted old tramp limps across the street:
Down trodden, barely able to breathe.
Life is an endless, motley, milling mass
Of coming and going and inhaling trash
And fighting to survive…
And no-one seems to care one bit
About who makes it to the top and who lands in the pit
In this crazy rat race that we call “life” –
All that matters is that “I” should win,
Casting all the rest in life’s waste bin.
A businessman getting home late from work
Removes the mask behind which he lurks
His only companion is his pedigreed dog –
His family’s been lost in life’s fog
In a pub a dad is squandering his weekly wage…
Nothing’s left for his family in their dead-end maze
Their life without his nurturing has taken its toll
Leaving weariness and heaviness of soul.
Life is an everlasting puppet show,
Every puppet going through their own private hell
Playing life from bow to bow.
And no-one’s able to walk away
As the puppet master keeps us all at bay
With invisible strings from which we dangle
Each of us awaiting fate
In life’s drama with it’s senseless debate.
Life still holds us in continuous defeat
We’re confusing happiness with lust and greed
The strings that tie us are our prison bars
And closet skeletons remain where they are.
Selfishness controls our lives
‘Cause “It’s my OWN little world that has to thrive!”
Life’s misery’s becoming more and more…
There’s no escape… we keep missing the Door…
And suddenly I realize with ice cold clarity:
We’re forever trying to outdo ourselves
While we cast the rest of us aside
We’re pushing Life beyond our reach
While we greedily keep bowing to Mammon’s leech
And keep ruling our existence from our own little niche
Fighting stubbornly to be in control
As we’re headed for a strong brick wall.
And until we acknowledge we’re ALL human souls
And start to love one another without seeking reward
Will we trample each other and take revenge
‘Cause “I’m just being my own best friend!”
Until then, Lord Jesus, does the task remain mine
To testify in Your Name – to be the Light that shines…
Until at last everyone has become Your child
Will I point to You as the Door to Life
Life is an immeasurably priceless entity
That was given to us by our Loving Father
For a moment in eternity
And what we’ll do with it
Depends on whether we’ll be able to realise
We need to enter through Jesus, the only Door
That only then will we really thrive…
© 2015 Antoinette LeRoux