Calais

A poem I've been working up in my mind for a while, now.

Every day they hate you more

when all you want is peace. 

Desperate you gather, but closed is the door; 

they wish your kind would cease. 

Is it wrong? 

My skin, clothes, face; 

my faith, culture, tradition; 

memories of rubble, fire, loss; 

or memories of barren, dusty land. 

Would you let me in 

if I looked more like you? 

We offer you guards behind walls, 

dogs behind guards, 

politicians who, in their grand palace, 

turn the screw tighter, tighter, 

and congratulate themselves on their service to the public. 

They talk of swarms, the jungle and British values - 

you talk of food, shelter, and the hope of a better life. 

We offer the scorn of tabloids, 

pushing their rich man agenda on a public which, 

dazed and confused, 

leave the ballot box wondering why they feel so blue, 

quivering in fabricated fear 

of you. 

If you want tolerance, freedom, or love, 

you've come to the wrong place.

Reviews

[Satan]

Very honest eye opening words. As an aussie refugees have become a common topic here. I think it's disgusting how we detain them like lesser beings. Even mothers and children have to bear the shame of it. Provided people come here with peaceful intentions and are happy to contribute then I would welcome them all with open arms. Yet even an offering of such generosity still wouldn't solve anything. The problem is that people are living in environments where they have an instinctive urgency to escape it.

[Mathew Nicolson]

Thank you! I completely agree. From what I've read, the Australian response seems even worse than the UK's. It's a good point that the priority should be solving the crises which cause the refugees/migrants to leave, and wholly open borders aren't fully realistic - bug I wish we could have a better response than just closing the doors.

[Satan]

You are very welcome. I feel a rant coming on so I'll warn you in advance. Our systems are no doubt unbalanced and outdated. Sadly we haven't seen a great deal of changes the last few millenia in terms of our treatment towards one another. I openly lay that blame on religion for it is the lies that have been sprawled throughout their books that have blinded people so badly they actually began to believe that all of the horrible things written in it were meant to be real. They speak of a reality of slavery, rape, murder, hatred, human sacrifice, currency, disease, curses, darkness, famine etc etc and what people don't care to realize is that there was once a time on this planet that these words weren't even a part of our reality. I mean jesus christ there was once a f*****g time we didn't even exist on this planet! Peoples ignorance is so painful!!!!!!! I personally have confidence that the chaos will all soon come to an end... ;)