If a shooting star should streak across
the velvet night sky,
what wish would the children of this
growing township make?
Would they wish for the shackles of poverty
to finally be broken?
Would they perhaps wish to be raised by two
loving parents in a stable home?
Perhaps they would wish for life to recognize
and gift their talents with opportunity.
If a shooting star should streak across
the velvet night sky,
what wish would the lonely widow make?
Would she maybe wish she had made
wiser financial decisions that would
spare her the humiliation of having
to go to her in-laws with a begging bowl?
If a shooting star should streak across
the velvet night sky,
what would a tired old woman wish for?
Might she wish for her children and
grandchildren to treat her with a little more
care and respect in her twilight years?
Maybe she yearns for her remaining years
to be free of a dependency on a social grant
and to be free of snaking clinic queues?
If she dares to dream, maybe she wishes
for the strength of her youth so that she
might enjoy just one more day without having
to plead and negotiate with her fragile body.
If a shooting star should streak across
the velvet night sky,
and each underneath this starry blanket could
make just one last wish,
would poverty’s stranglehold finally be broken?
Would living from hand to mouth finally
be a thing of the past?
Would a people finally wrestle back their dignity
and self-respect from an environment of entrapment?