THE IRONY OF LIFE

I have seen toilsome hands

Working so assiduously to secure a future

To my utmost dismay, his toiling never ends

The more he toils, the bleaker the future seems

I have seen a retiree begging bread, with no hope of survival

Who had dispensed all his useful years, impacting lives all along

No evidence of good living, nothing attractive and no reward for his dutifulness

He wallows in penury, until he’s swallowed up in earth’s large mouth

I have seen a student failing consistently

Who had burnt midnight candles from both ends

Reading out his eyes relentlessly

The more he reads, the more he fails

His results always worse than those of party mongers

I have seen a country in serious economic downturn

Endowed with so much resources yet always in debts

Whose heroes past had suffered and sacrificed immeasurably

With leaders of tomorrow depressed, destitute and left without a hope

Who would have thought:

That hard work could result to penury?

That one who impacts lives would die unremembered?

That relentless reading would not guarantee success?

That a nation flowing with milk and honey would rank among the poorest?

Life is unimaginably complex and ironic

Only God restores hope to the hopeless.