The charcoal people work in clay tombs scored by a Brazilian sun
Their burnt bodies would crumble in our air-conditioned world
"There's no shame in being poor," says a decrepit laborer, "only shame in not being polite"
He knows only one skill but it's good enough to pay for new shoes
Mae is a worried mother staying strong for her kids
Making ends meet while taking a beating in silence
She's undergoing tests with unkind results
But no one else knows it except for her own mother
One day she'll awake from her slumber and sign a new lease on life
As she embraces the departed she wonders if she did the best she could
Her effort is immeasurable and so is her love
Jerome tells exaggerated war stories to anyone who'll listen
He's a middle aged man who's young at heart
Repeating old one-liners and bodysurfing with the boys
He gives self-convincing advice that'll be ignored when the moment of truth arrives
But his son appreciates it nonetheless
He needs help remembering yesterdays and has trouble saying names
The diagnosis will get worse before it gets better
His wife fills the gap seeking comfort in his laugh
Together they roll with the punches and fill each other's prescriptions
A corporate snake sheds her pale white skin
Underneath are layers of passion bright red
Shannon heads to the country to write some poetry
She's reevaluating life and redefining success
She unlocks her briefcase and throws it off the mountainside
The papers scatter like a flock of geese after a shotgun blast
She'll make a long-awaited phone call to her parents when she gets home
Maybe all is forgotten, those harsh words said years ago
A third of her life gone but still so far to go
Funny how the corner office doesn't mean much anymore
Amber is a college freshman who didn't cave in late one night
Almost duped by her so-called friends into taking a chill pill
She may be young but this girl is wise beyond her years
She laughs at the frat boys dribble and knows when she's had her fill
She decides to brave the downtown streets alone
But to her it's safer than riding in a car with a pack of hyena
In the morning she's awaken by the jabs of a kitten's paw
Alive and unbroken she walks on vacuumed carpet, not beer-stained lanolin
She kisses her boyfriend at school and gets to class on time
She isn't a cliché in a music video but is pretty enough to be in any one of them
Despite their personal struggles these people are doing great things with their lives
They are underprivileged men wasting away in the hot sun for slave wages
They'll never dream of quitting because their families couldn't survive without them
They are single mothers sacrificing their own needs
Providing their kids with a childhood they deserve
Canceling salon appointments so they can afford dance lessons and baseball gloves
They are married couples never taking their spouses for granted
It's not easy dealing with each other's sicknesses but they'll get through them together
They are money-driven professionals sick of what they've become
Busybodies with good souls that realize there's still time to make amends with the ones they love
They are teenage girls sticking to their guns, not giving in to peer pressure
Surrounding themselves with what's near and dear to their hearts, a loving family and a true companion
We're never what we want to be, always what we are
Sanctified by love and corrupted by anger
Never deny the human spirit that isn't your own
For each of us is the sum of everybody else
Our pride is our grief
).setAttribute('href','//poetrypoem.com/cgi-bin/index.pl?sitename=poet777302&item=home');document['poetimage'].height='45';document['poetimage'].src='//poetrypoem.com/photos/poets/poet777302-button.jpg';;WriteLayer('ptitle',null,'Virginia Ann Gray passed on no joke');WriteLayer('ppoem',null,'Her death was real. It was a big deal. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituarie<a href="//poetrypoem.com/cgi-bin/index.pl?poemnumber=1349901&displaypoem=t&sitename=poet777302&item=poetry" target="_top" style="text-decoration:none;"><font style="color: #18397C;font: 900 12px times;"> ... More</font></a>');WriteLayer('poetinfocus',null,'poet777302');WriteLayer('pdate',null,'2024-04-08')){kind=small}
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