Poem: Don’t be like those who ask for everything

Don’t Be Like Those Who Ask for Everything

© 2010 By Alice Walker

Don’t be like those who ask for everything:

praise, a blurb, a free ride in my rented

limousine.  They ask for everything but never offer

anything in return.

Be like those who can see that my feet ache

from across a crowded room

that a foot rub

if I’m agreeable

never mind the staring

is the best way to smile
& say hello

to me.

For Queen Miriam (Makeba) who stood on swollen feet and sang her country to freedom.