Writing by Claire Shankie. Illustration by Polly Burnay.
How must we recover from this?
This hatred, this apathy.
Where is humanity?
This is what we used to think.
In reminiscing our present,
We will question the obscurity
Of our loss of love.
We now have empathy.
History is infinite.
It piles up and up, and yet,
It surprises us,
Rather than informing us.
Nothing is final.
We knew this all along,
But used it for the wrong reasons.
We know now.
When we lost sight of ourselves,
Everything became final.
We went past a point,
Almost of no return.
We used frivolous binaries,
To justify injustice.
We used apparent difference,
To defend the powerful.
We reflect in confusion,
Failing to understand
The random organisation
Of our divided society.
We celebrated what we had made,
So that we didn’t see the consequences
Of true labour and dedication.
We were instantly satisfied.
Then we slowed down, simplified life.
This is how we live now.
We recall our hearts full of greed,
As something stuck in the past.
Reminisce our present,
I implore you.
It shows us a path,
And offers us a glimmer of hope.