I'm tired and cold, rags gathered tight, so show me some pity
It's been to long out in this cardboard city
Food gathered and begged, no chance of meds, while you stay warm in luxury beds
A doorway, a tunnel, a railway station
A look of disgust from most of the nation
I didn't ask to be ousted from a normal life
To be fed to the streets in toil and stife
Clothes dishevelled, ripped and most...

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In the darkness of night, I'm a king with no crown,
A knight with no sword, no way of cutting life down.
The words they create, cut like knives to the soul
Media fed by derision to fill up your bowl
Spread lies and more hatred on sharpened tongues
To drive home divisions, where no one belongs.

We live by their rules, and follow like sheep,
Heed the words of the wise, before your long slee...

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Thursday the eighth of February,

and eleven point seven miles I’ve walked,

a running total in defiance

of the enemy within,

of voices in my head who’d rather

I sit quiet, with nose to screen,

consuming crap made just for me,

algorhythmically designed

to rob me of humanity,

of poetry in my walking’s rhythm,

a miracle that’s in full flow,

performed by those who gave...

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Just thinkin' of that night,

Colors of black and crimson red,

And the 5 liters of blood and byle

That I internally shed,

It's a miracle that I'm alive,

Cause I should be dead,

Battling the depression sucks,

Sometimes it's hard to get out of bed,

Only God knows the everyday duels

With the devil I fight inside my head,

The people that I've hurt,

And the thi...

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Don't want to be waiting to live,
Don't want to be waiting for death.
Though the tide repeats outward and back,
Take a stand on the sand as it shifts.
Look around and be thankful 
For this 
May be all that there is.

Then the sun is the jewel that I own,
And it's greater than all that I don't,
And the moon is the pearl that surpasses
All others wherever they be,
And the water that sust...

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There is no greater possession than life.  
No greater prize than life.
What greater gift have we received than life? 
Life in the moment, and in all its moments.

More than money 
let me be certain that I spend this life well and wisely.
Whatever bargains I may make 
let me not under-rate the coin with which I barter, precious seconds.
But give me wisdom to know the folly 
of treating l...

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There once stood a chocolate tree, a bearer of desires. 

Its leaves melted when it inhaled passion.

Its fruits of fire

Set ablaze lands, verdant and barren.

Its bark was festooned in ribbons

Of rich gold and smooth caramel. 

Like Midas' touch, gluttony abundant,

The tree was nothing short of magical.

I basked in the shadow of the canopy

Atop the chocolate capped grass bl...

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Indebted

I took to watching slow dying sunsets

Marking the passing of the dawdling day

The trees casting their stoic silhouettes

Counting the golden currency each ray

bestows upon my mood and mental health

keeping the braying doubts and fears at bay

Accumulating natures gift of wealth

hoarding value like a miser stores gold

a solar bank that aids the commo...

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I’ve waited on platforms
For trains that never arrived
Drank shots in cellar bars
On Tuesday nights
With in-betweeners
Who still believe in lady luck

I’ve walked along promenades
Been battered by the wind and the rain
Taken shelter in late night café’s
Drank coffee so strong

It made me shudder
I’ve read the beat poets so many times
But I never tire of the words
Of Ginsberg and Ker...

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When I regretted
Why God is stingy
In showering me
With wealth
He took my health
Goading me
With a threat of death!

Praying when
I recuperated
I realized
Foolishly I had been
Daydreaming for wealth
Oblivious
My health
Is my
Number one wealth!/////

Who is Alem Hailu?

He is an emerging  Ethiopian poet,translator and author of all literary genres in the medium of English langua...

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