Somalia - Duty To Humanity First. Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

Many memories upon those tombs of time
offer the pictures of helplessness
sometimes by earthquakes buildings collapse
sometimes by natural disasters humans perish
sometimes by air-crash so many people just die;
but extreme sadness pierces the eyes
to see families face famine and starvation
which cave in their bodies and make them feel
the drought invade their skin, their stomachs,
and as their children encounter the hunger
so catastrophic, so undefiable, so persistent,
that over the years they adjust their existence
to one motto- the motto of survival
till they breathe, until on this earth they live;
and as we sleep, the night casts a dream
where images of many who perish in starvation
in one corner of this world appear as real
while you and I devour our daily meals;
and as those famished crowd to collect
their food supplies and feel some relief,
they hold out their hands asking for little
though they can eat much more than double
and my hands tremble to see their fate;
how much they long to live a tomorrow
without their bellies sticking to their backs?
how will they contain their agony
when they hold their malnourished children
in their arms and feel their skeletal muscles?
as mothers, as wives, those women
sit and wait for another day to provide them
a hope, a remedy away from their enemy-
called famine, called starvation, called hunger;
when God has manipulated human race
to eat and drink in order to survive,
and if by drought have they to die their deaths
why had they to be born at all on this earth?
and when in pain and hunger they have to stride
in search of food and water just to survive
another day of life, another struggle so futile,
how could nature betray their providence
by famine, by drought, by starvation altogether?
can humanity ever adhere to dereliction to them
when on this planet all have to survive
as children of this earth and humans on this universe?
let not color or distance make us forget our duty to them.