A short poem written from inspiration while reading Ursula's short story "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas".
Please know that most grammatical errors are ON PURPOSE.
I do not own "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas".
No place is a good place
For a good place is no place.
And happiness always comes with a price.
They walk away in shame, defeat.
They walk with guilt hung over their heads,
Or a purposeful ignorance shadowing their every step
Further and further from what they know,
What they have believed in,
What they have loved.
Those few with shattered dreams,
And scars of a home;
Unwilling to heal
To forget
To redress.
Some walk away with dragging step,
With sleep-deprived eyes
Which stare unseeingly,
At the great unknown like
Defeated victims of wretchedness and privation.
Some walk away with staggering step,
One long look forward,
One brief look back,
Two striding steps forward,
Half a step back.
Those are the unconfident souls,
The uncertain followers.
Though they follow only ghosts;
Everyone leaves alone.
They walk away to find salvation,
To find the cure to their sudden knowledge;
That one man's joy is another's pain.
Only through sacrifice can happiness be achieved.
The selfish thrust the sacrifice upon a child,
Take the happiness for themselves.
Spread it around,
Share it among themselves,
Love each other
Accept each other.
Except that pitiful being alone in the cellar
Who feeds us our pleasure
On a golden platter.
And they are the ones who won't understand
They are the ones who are unwilling to reason
They are the ones who contemplate this conflict
Of greater happiness vs. smaller sacrifice.
Their knowledge destroys them
Sends them away.
Left to wander,
To seek, to search.
Not for things they can gain,
But the things they have lost.
They are the ones who walk away from Omelas.