Minds under strain
Hearts from joy abstain
People turn away from solace in disdain
From helping each other they would simply refrain
Especially when there is no gain
Family members, like strangers, who pertain
To the same reign,
Drifting apart, each his interests seeks to attain
Each indifference would feign
For opening up to each other would seem insane
When loneliness bites into the heart and brain
When humane bonds start to wane
When the barrenness of a busy life our feelings would suck and drain
We find ourselves stripped of kindness and our innermost glory slain
When friends are no longer friends indeed
When they only long for us when they are in need
When temptations on our greed would feed
When we stop at nothing and to our evils we concede
When our cautionary voice we would not heed
And our downfall we only speed
When old wounds open and memories would bleed
When we shield ourselves from reliving the pain
But only more pain it would breed
When neither a comforting shoulder nor a welcoming heart our misery would impede
We know that we are set apart by a cliff of hatred and misdeed
Unless we reach out to ourselves and from our demons we are freed
Unless we shed our egotism along with our greed
Nothing would hinder the unhappy ending and our misfortune would proceed.
Author Bio:
Rim Souissi is an English teacher at the University of Sousse, Tunisia. She finds poetry to be the only form of expression that can achieve both the sublimation of her inner thoughts and feelings as well as the elegance of expression that any person of artistic taste can aspire to. She relishes writing poems whenever she feels a rush of emotions gripping her, whether happy or sad. A bit of a shy and introvert person, she finds it easier to communicate her thoughts through lines of poetry. Though she was, and still is, writing primarily to herself, she lately dallied with the possibility that it would be nice to let other readers get a glimpse of her own world, maybe she will find resonance of her own writings in other people's experiences. She aspires neither for fame nor recognition, just for her words to be laid bare for others to read, think about and maybe identify with.