Isn't it just fine
living in North America:
I have my daily bread
my education debts
and my so-called
hellish assignments
and later a gruelling job
and later maybe a house
and later still a family -

but I am a first-world person
who can become a third-world problem;
if everyone lived like me,
there wouldn't be much leftover
for slum-bound masses
and their children, thin, raggedy,
begging on street corners
while their youth dies
on parched lips
and empty stomachs.

My later is their never,
my constant their lack;
and still, even though
I well know
my self-preservation
keeps me from breaking
routine and giving my life
to others,

there is nothing quite like
the selfishness of living.