A Poem
by Alun Robert
inspiration from a photograph by Angela Catlin
of refugee children fleeing in Mosul during 2017
carries the world on her back
like a snail through the mire
bites her lip with anguish
with fortitude, with determination
peers straight ahead
at her peers she ran wild
with laughter and frivolity
in their playground through streets
praying it will soon be over
the fighting, the bombing
while seeking ruins of the house
that once she called home
where she would sit close with Mumî
where she would listen to Bavo
as he blessed dolma and kofta
their staple of existence but
they are long gone, no return
left to grow up on her own
faster by the day
darker through the night
wondering why it happened
in whose name was the carnage
an obliteration of her cosmos
the eradication of freedom
in her new world of a confusion
well beyond her grasp
yet she needs to become gihîştî
before she is a teen
before she parks her red trunk
amongst the rubble and bodies
praying someone covers her back
mourns for those who left early
first published in Poems For Peace
during 2020 by Dove Tales Scotland
Association of Scottish Artists for Peace
https://www.dovetalesscotland.co.uk/angela-catlin-suitcase
