Aadharsh M, a student of Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore, weaves a haunting tale of the hope for a better place and life held by families fleeing their homes.
This poem is about a family.
A father, a mother, a son and a daughter.
Not a sitcom or a soap opera.
Murder, despair and slaughter.
“Never forget who you are
And wear it like an armor” said Tyrion.
A Military armor irrespective of the donning color,
Will always be unforgettable for a fleeing Syrian.
Such was the case of this family.
They were leaving behind their friends, job and their house.
The father had to carry his son and his daughter
Sometimes even his 6 months pregnant spouse.
About the daughter.
She wanted to become the best dancer in the land.
Air strikes in her school
Left her with only one leg to stand.
She had the same dreams as any girl would have
But the sorrows have eclipsed them and has cut deep.
She couldn’t have a literal dream as all she could see
Was her amputated leg when she closed her eyes to sleep.
The son was the epitome of innocence.
He was only 6 years old.
He was going to a better place with his family.
Or at least so he was told.
He kept blowing into his parents’ eyes.
He thought dust was the reason for it being red.
They were wiping away tears because they couldn’t tell him
That his friends, teachers and even his puppies were all dead.
The Mother was an elegant lady.
She now felt like a burden to planet Earth.
Human trafficking and sex slavery.
No idea who the father is to the child she is to give birth.
Her husband smuggled her from their clutches
And that’s when they started to flee.
They have reached the refugee camps now
Confined within fences and told that they’re now free
The father was the family’s everything.
He was their Man of Steel.
He has to pull his family through
To be there for them, his own needs he had to seal.
His only option was to survive in the camp until the borders were
opened.
The camps they were in was nothing different from Syria being a wreck.
He had to convince his children to eat and maybe to smile
And his wife to stop trying to hang from a tree with a rope around her
neck.
Now four months into the refugee camp,
Even Prisoners will have more of their requirements met.
The father’s heart broke into pieces when his now anorexic son
Uttered his last words, “The better place, Abba? Are we there yet?”
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