A girl in poverty pauses on her trek through the field
Full of hopes and dreams despite low health and wealth
Desiring to learn, to travel God’s world.
But suddenly feeling faint, she slows her walk
—heart beat fatigued, but nobody is nearby to care.
In a land a world away, a rich girl sighs, sitting
At her desk in the classroom, jewelry on two fingers.
“Why must I be in boring old school? Who cares
About learning, I say—Big deal! I’d rather go play.”
The poor girl gazes up at the infinite sky above,
“There’s lands beyond here kids from the school speak of.
Wish I was one of them—so smart and so learned.
To do things like reading and writing word’s, patterned-lines.
But I could never afford school. No, never…”
The rich girl passes by a table of water bottles for sale,
“Gross, who would want that plain, bitter stuff?
Get me that fine-tasting soda over there, I say!”
Then drinking one sip, she tosses it away without a care.
The poor girl falls roughly to her knees,
Dizziness spinning like a rotating wheel in her head
Around, around; her fingernails dig into the earth
Around, around; she can’t make the dizziness stop.
“Water, that cool life-giving drink, where is some?”
The rich girl strolls outdoors with a frown on her face.
“See the sunset, with the seagulls soaring above it, my dear?”
Says her mother, staring up at the sky high above.
“It’s just a bunch of colors, mom—it happens every day.
And the birds, I say, better not poop on my dress!”
The poor girl’s vision wavers back and forth
From warm sunlit day to cold, black darkness.
“Where is the sunshine, the warm glow, the blue sky?
Filled with the birds and the colors I so love?
Come back—Come back to me.”
The rich girl yawns, tiring of her homework.
“You must get good grades to go somewhere in life.
Don’t you want to travel, dear?
Don’t you have a dream, love?” asks her mother.
“It’s far too much effort for all that, mom.
As for dreams and life, honestly who cares?
Life is a bore—life is a bore!”
The poor girl’s heartbeat slows.
“No, I can’t leave this world yet—I can’t!
I have dreams!
So many wonderful things out there to see and to do.
I want life—life, I say!”
As the poor girl struggles
Heartbeat fading
Darkness becoming the black of Death’s depths,
A dream dies…
While those of blind minds live on.
From the book: “BLEEDING HEART”
E.E. Rawls Writes 
You make an excellent point here about the things we may or may not take for granted. The contrasts between the poor girl’s despair over her survival and the other girl’s carefree nature and lack of focus on her future are so striking, and also sadly real. I was hoping someone would be able to help the poor girl before the end… But that’s not always how life plays out. 😦
Thanks for writing a poem like this, Elisabeth.
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Thank you, Sara. I wasn’t sure at first how I wanted to end the poem, because if it suddenly had a happy ending it would feel unrealistic. And I wanted to get the point across that life is fragile, and time is short, so we should stop taking everything for granted. Thanks for reading it!
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