I am seeing through merciful eyes
And all before me is despair and calamity.
Hands are reaching, begging to be healed,
But there is only so much one can mend.
Lepers in their Armani suits sit in their offices,
Thumbing through money, a placebo for their illness.
Lepers in rags shiver in cold alleys during winter,
Resorting to violence and thievary for survival.
Lepers in public schools, smoking in the bathrooms,
Knowing love to be attention and mindless sex.
Lepers in Hollywood, binging and purging to stay perfect,
Thriving on the high of fame, crushed by the jaws of the paparazzi.
Lepers in public office speaking gilded words of promise,
And only stoop to honor when under pressure.
Lepers in strict social realms nursing raw wounds of prejudice,
Bitterness festering, blinding the dark blood line.

I am seeing through merciful eyes,
And I am helpless.
How can one aid in a cause,
In an epidemic so all-consuming.