I saw them at the YMCA in Kenya, their worried
Gaze betraying the sadness of displacement,
Brought about by climatic conditions, resource
Dislodgements for profit, loss of lands, homes and
Forests, oil, gas and diamonds… uranium, more.
Foreign investors seemed to help with the left
Hand, while supporting armed conflicts with the right,
Ensuring the continuation of farming and mining,
Leading to water and environmental toxicity. So the
Innocent bleed across Sahara’s and oceans to survive.
They came from Sudan, Ethiopia and Congo,
Mozambique, Angola and more, the irony of their plight
Being that once fed and clothed, they would gladly
Accept refugee status, not knowing that some countries
Accepting them, played a significant role in their displacements.
We are all sojourners, striving to better ourselves
In this earth arena. She, a refugee, jumped of the
Boat, deep into water up to her long thin neck.
Hands outstretched to the top of her head, she
Carries her child, while wading towards the unknown.
Look at her poise, her dignity. The
Light of Spirit kisses her cheeks, and
The snow-white purity of Mt Kailash,
Pays tribute to her undaunting courage.
Steeped in an ocean of endless sacrifice,
She carries her baby pearl of innocence.
Sitting on a basket of dream-filled hope,
Both gazing into the void of the unknowable.
Last night her Heart came weeping, and
Gratitude descended from Beyond.
Carrying the boon of an indomitable will;
It fuelled the fire of selflessness in her core.
We are all victims of this tyranny that
Enslaves us. Hiding behind murky veils,
It presses buttons from hearts wrapped in ice,
Frozen from a lack of empathy and concern.
I was born a Hutchinson, to Alexander blood.
My grandparents came from Patterson’s and
McFarlane’s. I am brown-skinned with Euro-negroid
Features; a part of me, is of Scottish ancestry.
History tells me, that Grenada is not my land, that
The Caribs and Arawak’s were inhabitants long before
My ancestors, both European and African, traversed
A Middle Passage some 600 years before, in which
Thirty million or more died, to satiate the invaders greed.
Yet I do not encourage hatred or resentment. This
World evolves, without which, I could not grow, have
No identity. After all, indigenous people traversed the
North American continent, long before the Caucasians
Came; the Incas and Aztecs in Peru, long before the Spaniards.
The first flow of Anglo-Saxons came in the 5th Century,
Dwelling in a land inhabited by celts, and before that,
Prehistoric people some 800,000 years before.
We are all the refugees of fate; it dances on our
Foreheads. Current life, like the old, will inevitably bring
Yin and Yang, like a swinging Pendulum, down, with
Ignorance, up, with progress; balanced, by the Light of Love.
Perhaps sister moon can free me from my greed,
Encouraging the recognition that all life is sacred,
That we are one interconnected flame of Truth.
I am a refugee Tambien x2. Shangti chufu ni
Amitabha.
-Manatita, The Lantern Carrier. 21st June 2019.
This composition is published as part of our Refugee: Poems of Courage collection, presented in collaboration with Poems Not Bombs, part of the Forest Poets collective.
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