MIDNIGHT
It was midnight when they came.
They stormed through the house, no care for our belongings.
It was midnight when we ran, ran from them with the guns.
Then they found us.
It was midnight when a gun shot rang clear through the air.
It was midnight when mothers heart stopped, stopped beating.
It was midnight when mothers mouth stopped talking, her eyes stopped looking, and her blood flashed red in the dark night surroundings.
It was midnight when I ran, tears streaming down my face.
It was midnight when I got on a small boat, and spent too long on that rotting wooden deck.
It was midnight when the boat reached the harbor and cheering split through the clear night air.
And it was midnight when the people came out and told us, ‘no, you can’t stay here’.
So it was midnight when I, sobbing,
was lead to a horrible place
with barbed fences
and a dry cracked ground.
It was midnight when
I realised that I was not welcome here
or in my country,
and that I might never have a true place to call home.
