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?