Periphery

Have you ever felt

helplessness and hopelessness

take control of your existence

no, not occasionally,

but every single day of your life

sticky and gooey; covering you from head to toe

seeping into your soul

have you ever been fed

a steady diet of disdain and insults

it tastes so bitter that your tastebuds die

and you can taste bile

topped by a cocktail of abuse and violence

a combination so potent

killing your appetite

that you never realise

you have slept on an empty stomach

have you ever been denied

even a scintilla, a smidgen of hope

to escape the life of drudgery

no chance of flight of freedom

if you have never felt like this

then you have no clue

how the marginalized live or feel

unseen, unheard and totally ignored

to exist on the very periphery of life

is worse than death itself.