His tears wet the land
Flooding the big dry river beds
And filling the empty dams
Yet, he has no place to call home!
Nowhere to rest his tender limbs
Nor end his long and endless suffering
Nevertheless, the lost boy marches on!
Head in the air like a proud warrior
His powerful feet firmly on the ground;
Thinking of the childhood lost;
Of the rights and freedom denied
Of the war and devastation of his homeland
Yet, his hope remains undiminished
(His cry for help largely unheard!)
He lives on the edge even in the best of times
Among the homeless and the hungry;
But, now, suffering has changed him forever;
Moulding his character as a moral being
Educating and enriching his mind for good;
And consolidating his vital link
With the generous spirit of the time
In the ancient Land of Oz
It’s not yet nirvana, though!
Nor is he seriously looking for one, just yet
(I’ve seen him at his best and worst in recent times)
But years of suffering has strengthened his resolve!
His struggle for survival has become the catalyst
For ingenuity and the oxygen of adaptation
Since the early days of arrival
He has, effectively, travelled the world
In search of refuge, as ordained by fate;
Crossing the legendary Nile – a brave act!
Unhelped by the gentle wind, so to speak;
And flying over the high seas
In the continuous narrative
Of his young and innocent life
Yet, the saga of the lost boy continues
He knows not the origin of his suffering
Nor the real source of his endless struggle
Nor when the tears first began to flow
But Searches in vain for meaning
In the heart-break trenches
Of his ancestral homeland
And in the fatal shores of Oz
© Lawrence T. Udo-Ekpo
Posts
The Gentle Neophyte
16 years ago
