By LILLIAN SAÏD 

Lillian is an active youth and community leader and the vice chairperson of community organisation, Youth Ablaze, co-founder of the drama group, Cactus Arts, and events coordinator for the youth dance group, Young Ambitious Minds. In 2022 she founded the Eden Park Servant’s Society. As a poet, Lillian has had several pieces published in various publications and dreams to have further work published soon. As editor of ‘Aweh’ magazine, she knows the power the media holds in addressing injustice, inequality, and prejudice. Over the years servant leadership has proven to be a key element in the initiative she gets involved with.

In a world of utter confusion
Where reality feels like the genuine illusion
Where giving up seems like the inevitable conclusion
Where rape is fast becoming only an act of intrusion
We see problems yet often overlook the solution
Our vision gets blurred by life’s blinding pollution

In a place that seems to offer no escape
Problems are becoming as endless as the landscape
An error is often confused made into a mistake
Hurting gets condoned by the popular concept of “give and take”
The tongue is still an object of destruction no matter who might be at stake
Everything that used to be real is now fast becoming fake

Many times, faced with that which seems greater than who we are
Many times, our dreams become a fairy tale driving past us in her fast car
We are forced to retreat into the room with the feather burglar bar
It is easy to break through, yet able to cause a permanent scar
All of this – to you and some others- may sound completely bizarre
Our lives are rat races that have simply gone too far

I have observed, and absorbed but still find it hard to understand
What happens between giving up and accepting a helping hand?
When do we cross the boundary of being a loving, platonic friend?
Lovers become the reason for one another’s brokenness that can never again mend
The simplicity makes it difficult to comprehend
How can we be murderers and still be regarded as protectors of the land?

By our own achievements get disappointed
Everywhere you look fingers are being pointed
But no hands lifted to Him, the Anointed…
Lies willingly and eagerly supported
The truth left to die after being miserably distorted
Morals and values pushed aside like illegal aliens ready and willing to be deported
 

So, you think this is the end?
Do you think this is spam mail that one needs to only send?
If this is what you think, think again my friend
Pleading ignorance is no longer an option I would recommend
Ignorance has evolved into a means to offend
The very people whom we rely on to make a rightful stand

This is as real as it is going to get
It is the objective, which has never been met
It is the memory that will never allow us to forget
Flashbacks of a woman who recalls that abortion with regret
It is the affair which the wife never talked about but always did suspect
I do not think we can still hide behind the excuse: Nobody – after all – is perfect