Here is a poem I wrote about the victims of the terrible famine in Somalia trying to make their way to the Dabaad refugee camp in Kenya. My niece Ingrid has been in the camp trying to organise the delivery of 2000 shelter boxes www.shelterbox.org I am so proud of her.
Anyway here’s the poem.
The Road to Dabaad.
The path there is long,
stumble on…
on…on…
this dry acrid track.
Don’t look back!
Withered grass
crumbles and mingles
with the dust of those passed.
Darkness surrounds –
A thick searing shroud
of African sun
Bleaching life.
Bleaching bones.
Bleaching hope.
On such a scope
that we at home
Greedily
Gorging
Guzzling
cannot atone
switch off
from frail
stick brittle bundles.
Tears of flies
In forgotten eyes,
Blistered life.
Blistered bones.
Blistered hope.
The road there is long
With the dead
looking on…
on… on…
The stench of pain;
The grief of flight.
The right to regain
New life.
New bones.
New hope.