Epic Failure

Between the tents and music

it felt like a celebration,

people milling around the park

for this grand rally of vision,

the publicized event to honor

a time for change and hope

when politicians gave speeches of promises for the future.

 

Was in the middle of the inner city

a place where poverty and gangs

had left it marked by graffiti

and the sorrow of drive by shootings.

 

But today beneath the stunning blue sky with balloons in the air

there was a spirit of expectation,

this time perhaps the poor would really get some help.

 

Only the days passed after the party,

no money came or change,

instead things got worse

some existing programs were cancelled

until the suffering turned to sobs by even larger groups of neglected.

 

Back at the edifices of legislation

this timeless disaster that had lasted for ages,

merely became another victim of the system

that had denied the needy their rights,

only it was buried under so many photos

from that gala occasions on that day.

 

They were the images framed and on the wall

rather than the lives abandoned

who were left in the shadows

like they never existed.