I couldn’t go back I had to flee,
Across the land and over the sea.
Her deafening screams and his helpless shout,
If I stayed my time was ought to run out.
Days on end, trapped in the dark,
Just one look and we knew they’d left their mark.
So close to the border, we spoke the same tongue,
But when morning came, a new enemy had sprung.
Playing in playgrounds and climbing trees,
Now long forgotten, things no one sees.
My one safe place, the place I called home,
Turned to ashes, where not even animals roam.
The water was rough threatening our boats,
Murderous cold seeping into our coats.
Looking right at me a boy with terror in his eyes,
“We are safe now” she said but he saw past her lies.
The skies turned grey and the ocean more vast,
The storm had arrived – brutal and fast.
Mutters and cries, prayers for a chance,
Orders to calm down but all stuck in a trance.
Upon the horizon a shimmering light,
A foreign land was approaching in sight.
For many too late, but hope still remained
Little did we know, our hands were still chained.
We reached the sand in mostly a blur,
But I remember the boy was calling for her,
His watery eyes no longer in fear,
Yet strolling down his face a single tear.
Bombarded with unwelcome words,
If only they knew how deeply it hurts
Shot with disapproving faces,
As if to say “go back to your birthplaces”
But I couldn’t go back I had to plea,
There’s nothing left, there’s only debris,
Her look through my papers and his shake of no doubt
My stay was short before they kicked me out.