Tengo Hambre

At first it gnaws fiercely inside.

That is to be expected,

but soon hunger gives up and keeps quiet without raising its hackles.

It shows up later,

as frequent headaches,

a persistent brain fog,

but you don't see it creep up,

somewhat like the myopia.

Myopia...

Until that day you could read well, 

but then all you could remember was the headaches 

that went away with a visit to the optometrist

Oh!,that's just your eyes 

he says and slaps on a pair of glasses 

and expects your headaches to disappear.

You don't remember your vision steadily declining, 

and as far as you knew it was always fine, 

and then bam! Just like that

you begin to see fuzzyblurry words 

and the more you try to focus

the worse your headache gets.

Back to Hunger...

Water seems to quell hunger...

A fantastic,perhaps grotesque idea

but what if all the hunger in the world could be quelled by water.

It would be temporary,

just like hunger quelled by food,

so there would be no difference.

Now all we had to do was provide clean water

and pray for world peace.

As one gets used to hunger,

it loses its bite 

and after a while,

and with enough water 

one can ignore it, 

and every now and then 

let it nibble inside,and gnaw

and rest for a while,and gnaw again

In Spanish, they say 'tengo hambre'...I have hunger.

It is not the same as in English.

In English you say 'I am hungry'...

Other European languages somehow capture the truth 

when they claim 'I have hunger'

Where do you have hunger,

is it In you,On you or Over you , 

dangling like a proverbial sword of Damocles?

Do you have hunger or does it have you?

'Tengo hambre'...repeat the mantra...I have hunger.

It is in me.

It makes me sleepy,forgetful and irritable.

It makes me cranky,grouchy,sombre.

But it's a well matched fight.

And I still have hunger 

but it does not have me.