Kiss Of Life: 

Privilege mocks me 
As I sit in front my monitor, 
Suspended in an angle of 
Comfort 
Hoping to capture a slight 
Rhythm of your heart 

My melody is weighed down 
Bearing humanity's most tragic tale 
Excavated 
From the darkest recesses 
Of Mother earth 


These are the weeping 
Memories of millions 
Born into the 
Squalors 
Of Creation's defiled 
Existence 
Bearing the whole world's 
Misdeeds 
On their tiny, little 
Shoulders 
Not even a 
Comfortless embrace 
To get them 
Acclimated 
Into a cold 
Ruinous 
Subsistence

Their motto is to simply 
Survive 
Their anguished soliloquies 
Translucent 
In the dismal emptiness 
Of their wide 
Eyes. 

An orphan's tale 
Is seldom 
Heard 
Above the merciless 
Din of bombings, 
Bloodshed, 
Third world 
Creation, 
Mankind distortion, 
Urban Dis-eases 
Pregnant with 
Innocence 
So pure 
Yet 
Destined for a life 
Of wretchedness 



Certain of the knowledge 
That they are born 
For a reason 
Yet fuzzy about 
God's design 
They are bursting 
Through 
the searing 
Seams of 
Jagged 
Life 
Concealing 
Harrowing 
Stories dripping 
With hatred 
And abuse 
Side stepping 
Invisible mines 
Overflowing into 
Gutters of shameful 
Demise 

They are the underground 
Connections linking   
Washington 
To Baghdad 
Nairobi 
To London 
Beijing to Soweto 
Global networks 
Spawning generations 
Of the dispossessed 
Wrapped up 
In the miniature frame 
Of a single 
Hungry 
Child 

An orphan's tale 
Is seldom heard 
As it 
Can hardly fit the 
Neat packages 
of 
Sanitized 
Media 
Clips 
They are society's glitches 
Tucked safely within history's 
Expunged lines 
Born to be forgotten 
Yet their names remain etched 
In the eternal scrolls 
Of humanity's pathetic decline 

My own lavish reality 
Echoes hypocrisy 
How silly I am to 
Seek comfort by 
Typing on this 
Hopeless keyboard 
My words are inept 
My voice discordant 
Against 
The silent canvas 
Of the universe's 
Distressed 
Eye 

Let's offer the kiss of life 
To a single dying 
Child 

-Maliha Balala