Such Suffering

from Out With Lanterns, a daily poetry practice

Smoke from far away wildfires
pushed ash into the sky and
left us a stunning sunset of
orange, red, purple, pink. 

It is difficult to enjoy the beauty,
to be enthralled by that wild sky, 
knowing that not so far away, 
such suffering. 

Like how it’s strange to feel a full belly, 
to overindulge, thoughtlessly load our forks, 
walk by abundance in every store,
while children elsewhere starve.