Africa

Tears across the ocean
cries across the land
don't tell me not to be concerned
cause I don't understand

Your trouble is mine
Your fears I share
your pain I feel
I can't help but care

Not too long ago
I didn't know what apartheid meant
I didn't know the pain going on
I didn't know where justice went

God created us in his image
differences added for spit
we are related in every way
and I think that's rather nice

We've got brothers and sisters
the whole world wide
I'd like to get to know them
and comfort them when they cry

(c)2017 Catherine Elder

We'll never have

We'll never have the patience of the earth
creating mountains and taking years
we'll never have the majesty of a lion
walking proudly not showing its fears
we'll never be as generous as a tree
giving of its fruits and breath for free

A bee only stings to protect its hive
the consequence of its anger it dies
a fox only steals out of hunger
its true to itself and never lies

A skunk is a simple creature
its only protection its spray
birds always sing in the morning
they give a concert every day

We'll never be as forgiving as the dolphin
caught up in a tuna net
we'll never understand like the elephant
there are too many things we forget

the earth is ours to keep for our children
ours to hold in trust and it trusts us to hold
and everything on it demands protection
until the sun grows too hot and gets cold

there is nothing that we can take with us
when its time for us to journey beyond
the earth reclaims till dust is dust
live in it and not just upon

the earth holds all the answers
to questions asked and unknown
all our answers are within reach
everywhere a cure is grown
but when a species dies
there is an answering cry
as the consequences reverberate
and gradually penetrate
every layer of life to a cell
then it will be too late to tell

you can't take away a bear's pride
by making it dance
a leopard is trut to its spots
and will flee given the chance

a zebra never ridicules its cousin the horse
for not looking or acting the same
a whale will protect its young
so to put some people to shame

a panda doesn't bask in any vanity
a panther never rests in captivity
a rhino only knows the value of its horn
is to protect itself and the young born

the only science a monkey is interested in
is how to eat, to climb, and to grin
a lion is king without taxes or debt
a tortoise's life is a gamble with never a bet

when the last redwood falls
will anybody hear it
all the wild grass smothered by cement
will we be able to bear it

will the earth shake
will we finally awake
will the water rise to claim all
will all the mountains fall
will the wind stop singing its song
will we have righted all our wrongs

(c)2017 Catherine Elder

white colour

The news said white nationalist

oxymoron

how can you be for a country

and against half its citizens?

They said white supremacist

aren’t we over that

apparently not say the KKK

Shocked that there still is KKK

white is now its the dirty word

dragged through the mud

of racist rhetoric

I am not a minority

I do not apologize

I was born this colour

I don’t see it as my race

I don’t identify it as my culture

It just is

It means I burn easy

but to some

colour has become a divider

why can't it be just a colour
someday when it doesn't evoke
slashes of discrimination

how do we heal

a history of pain

we can’t, can we

Can we move forward

and be kind to one another

because colour is beauty

and we need colour in our lives

(c)2017 Catherine Elder

Perspective

Its all the way you look at things
that determines what life brings

grey hair, streaks of age
the turning of another page
or highlights of wisdom earned
knowledge from experience learned

middle age, life half through
too many things you'll never do
or just hitting your prime
now able to appreciate time

wrinkles of worry, crows feet
map of time, gravity's defeat
or laughter lines, character on show
you're a person worth getting to know

(c)2017 by Catherine Elder

walking wounded

look around and you will see
walking wounded in everybody
we all have wounds that will not heal
we're all scared of what we feel

the walking wounded are everywhere
people that got hurt cause they care

they have two choices they can make
they can hope or they can break
they can get lost in a self pity maze
they can resent and relive painful days

or they can hope and try again
they can get past all the pain
but that's only for the brave and strong of heart
to pick up the pieces for a new start

we're all walking wounded but some allow to heal
and grow stronger till we can feel

(c)2017 by Catherine Elder

loving fool

Listen to the words I say
are they mine or someone from the past
a wounded little girl who learnt love doesn't last
in the shadow of hurt scars of doubt are cast

anyone that I love
i have to push away
because deep in my heart
I know they'll never stay

I can't see through all my fears
my vision blurred by tears
or is it all just a ruse
am I searching for an excuse
for all the mistakes I've made
and the doubts I've laid

Will I never learn
the secret of true love
or will my heart always yearn
for that which is so far above

am I a dreamer
am I a fool

I've walked the valley of despair
I've spent a lot of time there
I've glimpsed a rainbow
on the horizon
but then it goes
like the setting sun
and I never make it there

(c)2017 Catherine Elder