By William Pitt. This poem is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers.
Step – step – step –step –
the world is much too large;
I think I can see the end of land
but there’s always more and more;
why not sit down and count my thoughts?
How wonderful to take the weight
out of my feet and laugh at it.
This is one possession I would happily lose.
But it shall not be!
The engine in me keeps turning over
and drags me forward into the sun.
Step – step – step – step –
if only I could throw away the ballast
that makes my shoulders cry in pain;
then I remember –
it is my youngest child
and I will give my blood to save her.
She’s very quiet and stares into eternity –
the lack of nourishment plays in her eyes.
She still welcomes the air with every breath,
the spark of life is strong and feeds her spirit.
Step – step – step – step –
the world has lost its sense;
the terror in my recent past has shown
how ordinary people can be seized by madness.
By now the ashes of my home
will be dispersed around the country;
the labor in my fields is ridiculed,
the crops are cut by heavy army boots;
my sister didn’t listen when I urged
to hide in our secret place from childhood –
they forced her body open many times
before she was allowed to reach the other world;
didn’t they know that our husbands
were fighting somewhere else as soldiers?
They should have been afraid of punishment;
but nothing made them care about tomorrow.
And now – it all has come to walking –
Step – step – step – step –
we have to find a place of sanity
before I and my youngest child rejoin my sister.
Already on this journey
my two older ones have stopped and said
they loved this piece of earth and stayed behind.
I have a feeling they’re happy now –
their spirits talk to me and watch their sibling.
I need your help!
My body wants to scream and break
why do I have to climb a thorny mountain?
Spikes are piercing into my skin –
but I will not allow the night to triumph!
Step – step – step – step…
