One Shot, Two Targets.

 Shared for Oneshot Wednesday, though I have cheated and put in two as I couldn't ignore the second one.

Going through some old paperwork, I dug out some writing  I did some time ago.  I have resisted the urge to edit it and left it as it was.

Mother Earth

I know why we call her Mother Earth,

we treat her with the lack of worth

of children who don’t see the strain,

the worry or the constant pain

that’s present in their mother’s eyes

when faced with their demanding cries

for toys and treats beyond her means,

repaying love with tantrum scenes.

Children who, with children’s greed,

see a want to be a need

and money from their parents steal,

not seeing future fears as real.

Happy to have contentment now,

never worrying about how

mother pays for the clothes they wear

or feeds them when her purse is bare.

Then, moving into teenage years,

mock a mother’s loving fears,

destroying things they don’t want now

never caring when or how

replacements will come into being

when, in time, a need their seeing

for mother will provide at need,

 her duty in the teenage creed.

Mothers are old, and the old, you see,

don’t feel like the teenage you and me,

they are not human, they don’t feel pain

or understand the teenage brain.

Mother’s rule of taking and giving

ruins what makes teenage life worth living.

Mother has no wants and needs no care

For mother is mother, and will always be there.

And if we eventually outgrow

our mother’s home and off we go

to new homes circling the stars above,

will we remember our mother’s love?

Will we remember the care she gave?

Visit, reclothe her, her dignity save?

Or leave her circling until the sun’s end

stripped bare as the moon, her barren friend?

and this one, the title speaks for itself.

September 11^th 2001.

We didn’t set out to be martyred,

we didn’t think we would die.

So, when you think of us and remember,

don’t be ashamed to cry.

None of us could have expected

the fate that we would share,

we went in fear, pain, acceptance,

terror and in prayer.

We were not killed for our faith

or our nationality,

because we worked for oppression

or served in the military

but because some people, in arrogance,

deny our idea of ‘Free’,

using religion to mask their intolerance,

faith, their rigidity.

So don’t assume your way is right,

standing hard and fast in pride,

the result of this kind of thinking

is why we thousands died.

As a tree, to withstand the raging wind,

roots across a wide range,

freedom must also have a broad base

to withstand the winds of change.

Turning away, remember those

who survive but suffer still,

those left frightened or lonely,

injured, maimed or ill.

Our suffering is over and gone,

ceasing at our life’s end,

but remember each of us was also

parent, child, partner or friend.