My Levee Broke

Since the 2004 election I have been living in ignorance...
My preference has been to keep the news switched off, rather than live every day
In increasing anger, surging over and again as I listen
To a lying president, or see
His sickening face...

I am so ashamed of the wastefulness of this country...
The selfishness...
I am so endlessly empathetic to the suffering herein that
At times I just can't take it....

Yesterday, I saw my first glimpse of the devastating images on TV...
New Orleans swallowed by Hurricane Katerina...
Thousands presumed dead...
And me, like a fool, in ignorance...
I watched a video this morning, wherein newscasters
Interviewed those left behind...
We had to beg for food, for information, for help. Ain't no one here to help the poor people...

Now I feel the devastation so sincerely
And wish to help...

So I fish into my pocket and scrounge for cash and change
But alas...
I've put it all into the gas pump, just
In the interest of getting from A to B...
Oil prices rising over the dead bodies of my beloved cousin
And so very many others...

I wish and pray
To become one of those Activist kinds of souls...
I have cowered behind my cynicism and sadness for too long...
I recognize that our Human Race needs saving, and I alone
Feel so helpless....