The Boat People by Aparna Reddy at Spillwords.com

The Boat People

The Boat People

written by: Aparna Reddy

@AR_Midnighthues

 

the shores are unreachable

the sea cannot sustain them

men, women and children

crammed in rickety boats

 

they sail, the boat people

hoping to anchor themselves

between the shore and a dark life

we group ourselves as them, and us

 

who are they, and who are we?

we create inhuman boundaries:

countries are pressured by economics

people are controlled by politics

 

they are rundown by fate,

champions of human rights

have drawn a line of silence, even

the Buddhists renounced their tenets

 

welcomed, but with contempt

nations have turned their back

no one wants the boat people

how long can they float?

 

humanism has sunk deep

to the bottom of the sea

the weight of the conscience

anchored and chained

 

Copyright: Aparna Reddy @ Midnighthues Poetry

 

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
We are so engrossed in our own world and countries in their own affairs.
Religion, politics and economics have become larger than life in today’s world, we tend to forget that we are all human first. We have become mere spectators; it is heartbreaking to see so much pain and suffering. The pain that these poor asylum seekers endure in their homeland is far worse than the danger of the rough sea. This poem is dedicated to all those resilient souls who brave themselves to smell the fragrance of freedom. The Rohingya and the Syrian crisis inspired me to pen these lines.

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