all that's wrong
with the ailing world
those wretched places
littered city streets
so many twisted
unhappy faces
lost homeless folk
distressed in the war torn street
danger is their companion
so many deranged strangers
such a strange mess
when you wake up rearranged
in this sponge cake world
one won't see or recognize
each choking problem
when your child
is lying in a bombed out street
his torn up guts lying in the dirt
soldiers keep tossing grenades
artillery dumping chemical bombs
such a violent hurt
all those stone tombs
but the violence never fades
there is no token oxygen
once you're broken and can't breathe
just can't catch a breath
so deprived you can't think
partially alive and you can't think
everything tenement is wrong
when the light goes out
survival's universal song
that's what existence is about
that's why your controversial heart beats
but when the lights go out
when God illuminates and speaks
then dimensional beings
reflect universal might
just what it seems
crowing like an upstart rooster
availing this ailing world
embarking on an enlightened means
prevailing with the Buddha booster
addressing every insistent human wrong
sacred direction persists
remarking on every mistrusted street corner
chanting encrusted hope and a sacred song

                              * * *