Tag: poor kid in a rich country

I read your application
Of a scholarship
You said
The scholarship
Would help you
Get new stationery
You said
You long to have
New pencils

I remember
In grade school
I wrapped paper
Around pencil stubs
To make them last longer

That’s four decades ago
In China
Back then
A third world country

We are in 2023
You are in Australia
Facing the same poverty
I can’t help
But cry