Do Lives Matter?

Do Lives Matter?

(Inspired by a poem by Claudia Rankine)

Claudia feels sadness because

Billions of lives never mattered.

CHORUS:

We all want our lives to matter,

think they should matter,

believe they do matter—for someone.

Columnists write about the people’s 

lives that matter.

Irv Kupcinet said to the cab driver,

“Instead of a fare, 

I’ll put your name in my column—

you matter.”

The cabbie said, 

“I’d rather you pay the fare.”

CHORUS:

My life already matters—

Blacks marched to upscale

North Michigan Avenue, 

announcing “Black Lives Matter.”

Some Whites responded, “White Lives Matter”—

meaning, “Our lives mean more than yours.”

Other Whites asked, “Why don’t they

stay in their own part of town and march and shout?”

CHORUS:

We all want our lives to matter, think they do matter.

Her mother’s funeral was this morning.

Afterwards, she said that her mother was

her closest friend.  Now her life is 

a blur of mourning.

CHORUS:

Her mother’s life mattered.

Workers are not people,

they are a business expense.

Obviously, that expense should be

kept to the minimum.

CHORUS:

Workers’ lives don’t matter.

Sobornost—a Russian Christian’s way of saying,

“God never forgets anyone—even the sparrows.

CHORUS:

In God’s never-forgetting,

billions of lives do matter.”

(c) Phil Hefner    8/9/2019