White Man’s Burdens Poem by Samuel Byrd

As the moonlight pierces the evening’s calm
Peace can still be found even in the eye of the storm
As chaos and confusion penetrates personal space
It’s hard to appreciate gifts that flows from God’s grace
Bombarded with jealously, greed, lust, and envy
Complied with gluttony, sloth and even ones own vanity
Humanity gets pushed farther to the brink of extinction
Between what’s ethical and just wrong is getting harder to make that distinction
Lies, deception, and one-sided propaganda
Gas prices, unemployment, all to much to handle
All too much, all too soon, need more time to adjust
Interest rates, tax rebates, which investment to trust
The call for change, at three in the morning, goes unanswered
So who picks up the phone, doesn’t really matter
Foreclosures, housing slumps, the war in Iraqi
School shootings, no health care, the country’s off track
FAA overlooks inspections as long as their palm gets greased
Not to worry whistle blowers do their job and now everyone’s displeased
Go back to school, get a degree cause jobs are getting harder to find
But your not the only one with a bachelors’ standing in the unemployment line
Bipolar, can’t sleep, can’t get it up, need to lose weight
No need to worry, whatever the case we have a pill you can take
Get divorced, now the judge awards her half of everything you own
Your house, your car, child support untill the kids are grown
Restructuring, down-sizing, plant closure circulate around the rumor mill
Your teenage daughter is pregnant from a black guy that just got killed
Your son got caught growing weed, so in 2020 he’s eligible for parole
And you just found out that your brother could die any day now from a common cold
These are just a few of the problems white men are starting to face just recently
But for decades, things like these have been part of my everyday reality