Writing Assignments for Social Awareness: Assignment One

 Souls in the Dark

I hear the cries
But I turn my back
Tell myself: no one dies
If I don't call back.

It's not true of course
They're lost every day
Countless souls, and faces
Ignorance can't scare death away.

They keep their composure
A smile, a grin
While pleading for mercy
But later, fear wins.

What will they do
When they seek sleep tonight
Nowhere to go, nothing to do
But wait for the reborn sunlight.

           I wrote this poem about the worldwide social issue of poverty and the homeless. There are hundreds of homeless in the United States alone, so imagine how many there are in the whole world. That's thousands of people who can't come home to dinner and a real bed at night, like the rest of us. And the only solution is if the more fortunate people help the less fortunate. We need government involvement, more soup kitchens to feed the homeless, homeless shelters. Anything that could help these innocent people who need it most.
          I haven't exactly been doing my share. That's partially what this poem is about. Living in New York City, I see homeless people on the streets asking for money all the time. The thing that kills me is that they are so nice about it, so polite, despite all they've been through. That's what I'm referring to in the third stanza in the poem, about how these poor souls are some of the kindest people you'll find. The first stanza connects to an idea about how people, including me, turn their backs on those in need. I don't always give the people I see on the sidewalks holding out their money cups spare change, and it breaks my heart not to do so. But something makes me keep walking. The second stanza I wrote about the consequences of ignoring the needy. Sickness, hunger, death. I said "ignorance can't scare death away," because people think that they're doing no harm by not helping the less fortunate, but they are mistaken. I am mistaken. And in the last stanza, I voiced my wonderings about the lives of the homeless. Where do they go at night? Where do they sleep? What is the first thing they think about when they wake up in the morning, to reborn sunlight?