Why does the world seem so predatory?
I see all the things around me
And I see sights of carnage
Sights of death
Sights of loss
Sights of destruction

I see the day transform itself into the night
And an all-pervasive chill permeates the air
I shiver and moan but must continue to walk
Until such a point as I could come to a stop

I see poor people
Living in hovels
As smoke and fire are released
In the coldness of the night
It provides much-needed warmth

I see beggars asking for whatever change
That people can provide

I see crime and violence
And I see the uncertainty that seems to be part of the psyche
In all this uncertainty
I myself grow uncertain

I keep walking
And I see people in line
Waiting for soup and bread
They are in despair
And long for a full meal
But must instead settle for brief sustenance

I see small children running in the streets
Shots ring out and shouts are heard
Yet the children seem unfazed by the events around them

I smile at the children
They have tried to preserve their innocence
In a world which has seemingly fought against it

The children are smiling
A boy runs merrily
A girl runs merrily
Her hair flies in the wind
And neither of them
Have a care in the world

I keep walking and I see flames emanating from a building
I hear shouts and yells coming from the building
I hear the voices of individuals
Who try desperately to escape from the fire
But who fail to do so

One girl's piercing scream
Will forever remain in my memory

Their voices will continue to remain in my mind
But I needed to move on
I could not linger in that place
I needed to head to my solitary abode

There I could rest and prepare myself
For this frightening new world

I kept walking
I kept walking
And hunger also washed over me

I saw destruction as police officers struggled to control the citizens
People began to rob, steal, and loot
Some of the police continued to do the task they had been trained to do
Others, however, abandoned all hope
And let the citizens engage in all sorts of havoc

I kept on walking
And after some time
I finally saw my abode

I smiled upon seeing it
At last
I could finally find solitude and tranquility

I entered the apartment complex
But found it to be in a complete state of disarray
The lobby had been completely ransacked
The elevators no longer worked
Throughout the apartment
The stench of death permeated every corner of the building

I rushed up the stairs to the fourth floor
There was the apartment where I lived in
I saw that the door was no longer there
Inside, the apartment was laid barren
And very little items remained
Inside the apartment
I rushed to my bedroom
And there I grabbed those few things which had not yet been taken
They were nearly all of minor use to me
But I nonetheless wished to have them with me

I grabbed them all and placed them on a fallen plastic bag
And saw that my bedroom had nothing whatsoever in it
All the things I had were gone
And nothing remained

I left my apartment
And ran down the stairs
All the things in the life I knew
Had gone away

I did still have my wallet at least
And I still had my life
For those small things
I could only be grateful

Now back upon the streets
I kept on walking
I kept on walking
But hunger ultimately crept over me once more
Since I had not eaten in a while
I knew I needed food to eat

However, I did see a restaurant in a corner
Almost miraculously, it had not been looted
I therefore entered and ordered a meal there
After some waiting
I ate the food
It was delicious

After paying for the food
I left the restaurant
And continued on walking

Tiredness, however began to set itself upon me
It was late at night
And I needed sleep
Sleep, however, was proving something harder and harder to do
In a world that had fallen to chaos

I kept on walking
And ultimately arrived upon a park
There I found a patch of smooth grass
There were no bugs there
And I felt a sense of comfort there
I laid myself upon the grass
And before long I fell asleep
While I was asleep
A sense of peaceful bliss passed over me
The world may have been under chaos
But as I slept
Peace and tranquility reigned me

I saw at that moment
That the world seems predatory
Because humans are,
due to their very nature,
predatory.
Therefore, the world will continue to be predatory

I am a predator
You are a predator
We're all predators
But we all have moments
Of solitary peace within us

We may not always be peaceful
As the predatory instinct will release itself
But if we work for strengthening that solitary peace
We just might be able to bring forth a new world.