Hunger

not within everyone's reach

I haunt like a ghost
I stalk like a shadow.
Their constant companion they call me,yet love me they do not.
I am with living things, all the time, in their body and in their mind.
People dread me; I overpower them and they know not how to protect themselves.
They hate me; but drive me away; they cannot.
I sear at their insides like a blazing fire,
that has to be quenched or else all will destroy.
Slow and silent is my war: weapons of destruction i do not possess.
People hate me, curse me but drive me away they cannot.
The rich and the famous, the poor and the fallen, the old and the young, the good and the bad;
all are equal in my eyes,unsought and disliked, yet I never leave their side.
I am the silent scourge of Developing countries.
Kings and ministers break their heads to keep me away from their door.
Programmes are chalked, plans implemented;
yet I am not easily driven away.
When I swing into action:
infants cry
children howl
and adults twist in agony
They know no peace unless I am appeased

My business is serious.
Yet I have my lighter moments.
Rich fat ladies, Women of leisure living in lonely houses and bored to death
like me as their companion. Satisfying ,me is their life’s single-point mission.
Popping something into their mouth all the while, they pamper and pander my every whim and fancy.
They have a dish to suit my every taste.
sated and satiated am I; but around me I see a diseased lot with a jaded tongue come of eating what you will.
I am the wolf at the poor man’s door
I am the idol of the rich and indolent. By now you must have guessed who I am.
I am not as bad as I make out to be.
Hunger is my name; were it not for me governments would have no agenda for work.