Where do the unfortunate children live?
Charred basements
Broken windows
Hinge less doors
Cracked walls
Torn up floors
Abandoned palaces
Way beyond our gated paradises
Far away so we won’t have to see
Where do the unfortunate children play?
Septic swamplands
Dead grass
Scorched earth
Forgotten swing sets
Junkyard Hell
Running on decay
Chewing paint chips
Shredded promise soufflé
Far away
Not near you
Hidden from our guarded suburbs
If we sweep them under the rug will they still exist?
Can we hide them away from where the moneys made?
Shield us from their tears
Remove their squalor from our sight
Pretend they’re not still here
Hide away their despair
Where we never have to see them
Where we no longer look
Yet still hear them cry
Without listening
Without asking why
Why should I have to share what’s mine just because their lazy
Its not my problem not my fault
Let someone else foot their bills
Let someone else buy their shoes
Put food into their bellies
Shelter them from storms
The big game is on TV tonight
My fridge is full of excuses
I have no time to hear the plight
Let me watch the latest shows
Not some documentary to remind me I once cared
At a time when I believed in caring
Anyway that was a long time ago
I was filled with lofty ideals then
In youth I believed in so much
It seemed we all had a dream
A vapor really
Breath on glass
Bold and large
Mirror dreams
Wiped away with self ambition
Dissipated with fumes of self indulgences
Into nothing
Compassion disappeared from my looking glass
Leaving a reflection of myself
The face of one who forgot
A face of shame
No salary can buy it away
No ambition can veil the self contempt
No status symbol can wash away regret
Of forgetting how to care
Shame on those of us who abandon our hidden neighbors
So wrapped up in ourselves
That we have forgotten how to care
Remember the days
we all promised
To lend hand
To wipe their tears
Peace
Terrapin - The Journey 