Aftermath Poem by Cynthia Buhain-baello

After the Arab Spring, what?
The death count all but recorded
But none of the expected aftermath
Where is the freedom that was expected?

Nations that had them still in chaos
Just a political label?
Of vague directions, what a lost cause!
Options absent, all's not well.

So gone are the aged dictatorships
Multiplied are the conflicts and deaths
Governments changed but there's no leadership
Such a scenario add to global debts.

Eight hundred million dollars to feed Arab Spring?
Money cannot water a people's hunger
Love for country must always be birth within
And values must be changed for each other.

For Freedom is not just an empty word
It's respect for every child, woman, or man
Upholding the good, negotiation - not discord
And unity, not greed, will make them stand.