Mercy came knocking once, a pale wanderer draped in dawn, with weary eyes and gentle hands, carrying no sword, only the burden of understanding. But the wicked knew not her face. Their hearts were citadels of stone, where compassion died unnamed and every wound became a weapon. They barred the gates. For mercy is a stranger in the hearts of the wicked. She walks their halls unseen, a ghost among shadows, whispering of forgiveness to ears that worship vengeance. They drink from poisoned wells and call bitterness wisdom. They sharpen grief into blades and wear cruelty like a crown. Where mercy offers a bridge, they build a wall. Where mercy kneels, they strike. And so she leaves quietly, taking her light with her, while darkness settles deeper into chambers already cold. The wicked do not fear mercy, they fear what mercy reveals: that beneath their iron masks, beneath their kingdoms of pride, beneath the ruins they call strength, there lives a trembling truth they dare not face. For merc...
Who gave birth to inequality in life?
Was it time, or the hands that shaped it wrong?
Who whispered poverty into the cradle,
And called it fate when it learned to cry?
Who taught the world to measure worth
By weight of gold instead of weight of heart?
Who built tall walls and named them progress,
While shadows slept beneath the stairs?
Who gave birth to hunger with full granaries,
To cold nights beside burning lights?
Who crowned power and blindfolded justice,
Then, I asked the poor why they still knelt.
Who taught disrespect to look normal,
To laugh at torn shoes and tired hands?
Who made the struggle a spectacle,
And suffering a crime of birth?
Life becomes unbearable
When dignity is rationed,
When hope is taxed,
When survival is mistaken for laziness.
The poor did not give birth to their pain—
It was delivered by silence,
Raised by greed,
And educated by indifference.
Yet still, in cracked voices and calloused palms,
A question survives the weight of days:
If humans created this imbalance,
Can humans not unmake it, too?
© 2025 Gloria Penelope
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