We are the privileged few

We are the privileged few

Through no choice of self
Our place of birth
Had decreed our fortune

We have lived
Without a thought
For clean fresh water
In an instant
The clean cool liquid
Bubbling and splashing
Often opulently wasted
In our carefree ignorant ways

We have lived
Without a thought
For a dry, safe place to sleep
And we have the audacity to complain
When in our beds of soft, sweet cotton
That our sleep has not been good

We have lived
Without a thought
For education
Complaining that we'd rather not be in school
Desiring instead to waste our lives
In mindless pursuits of pleasure

We have lived
Without a thought
For electricity
Power in an instant
And heat and light are ours
Without any effort of our own

Yet more than half the world
Knows not of all we have
Their daily struggle
For life and health
Dependent on each other
Reliant on their wits
To merely survive
One day to another

For they live
With water plagued
Their place of rest not safe
Their education costly
And their power at a price

With all we have
We cannot deny
That even in our considered poverty
We are the privileged few.

(c) Ali Taylor