Wake Them

Wake them!
Wake them from
Their dreamless slumber.
A slumber with
Eyes wide open
And minds tightly shut.

Wake them!
Wake them from their desires
To remain boxed in
In Xboxes and PSP’s
In IPhones and Crackberries.
Connected with friends,
But truly, are they connected?

Wake them!
Wake them from a new world
Constructed solely for their minds,
Paying no attention
To their bodies and souls.
Connected and yet
Disconnected from the world,
From themselves.

Wake them,
And let them rise and shine
With the greatness
All men possess
To imagine,
To innovate,
To create,
To invent,
To be better that
The people they believe
Themselves to be.

Let them shine
With the awareness
That life is of
Their own making
And not something
Constructed by society
And thrust upon them.

Let them shine
With the desire
To make this world
A better place
For their children and grandchildren
And in turn inspire
Those children to take that desire
And change the world.

Wake them!
Wake him and her!
Wake you and me
And let us rise and shine.


I did this poem for a spoken word competition with the theme being “Wake them and let them rise and shine”. Unfortunately, I went to the wrong venue and never got to read/recite this poem. There will be other competitions.