Suffer, Little Children

Malnourished obedient children frogmarch down dawn-lit pathways,
Impelled by the necessity of money to maintain
bread on plates and residence of damp drafty abodes,
The children’s footsteps and chesty coughs
interrupt the early morning birdsong,
Limbs heavy with resignation and despondency
as they contemplate their day of toil ahead,
Aches and pains inflict their frail bodies through repetitive exertion,
Cuts and bruises adorn young hands and feet;
some infants lack a full array of digits,
Marching solemnly to the walled site of degradation awaiting. 

Detached and uncaring men purvey over their juvenile labour pool,
Projections of money flicker over glassy eyes,
They wash their hands in a sink of bank notes,
The children’s unshed tears mingle with their sweat to oil the machines,
Dreaming about the chance to go to school,
The clunking vibrations of the gleaming
apparatus erode hope and ambition,
Innocence of childhood evaporated into humid suffocating air,
Children used as a frivolous commodity to maximise profit margins,
Producing items of adornment and recreational
whimsy which decorate privileged homes.