Garbage KIds

Poisonous gasses fill the air.
The rotting smell is everywhere.
The sopping layers under my feet
seem to breed
pools of black oil.
No trace of clean soil
can be found
for several miles around.

Against the drifting garbage hill,
people are living still
Children are born here and never leave.
This hell on earth is what they believe
all there is to know.
And the older they grow,
the sicker it gets
in their blood and in their heads.

Behind every garbage truck that unloads
young children in greasy clothes
dig in the filth without gloves or masks
knowing that not fulfilling their awful tasks
means their lives will be worse than before
and their bodies will ache even more
They dig to get something to eat
and other basic things they need

Because the profit of the company must grow
and the children’s work is too slow
being weakened by the strong pollution
more working hours is the cruel solution
So now until late at night
the sky is filled with artificial light
to make them find more iron, copper or led
and earn the scarce meals they are fed