My Eritrea
Against the copper backdropp flows the cleansing trickle
Rich in emotion, a mélange of pain and fear in an antipathy not so fickle
Life in its barest raises its head in drops of unraveled emotion
A heritage of a cross between peril and commotion
She loves her daughter unknown to the cruelty around
Innocence so precious in a world saturated with malice abound
A long walk I make for a destiny that is not my own
A destiny that I've carried in me and now with me in our journey to the unknown
The huts amidst the flourishing oasis of love and community
A distant past in the face of forays of intolerance and cruelty
Amidst the bloodshed fate intervened to spare a few
Walking among the rising ghosts of those they knew
It's a hazy line between fortune and misfortune
Death seems a luxury in the face of waves of cruelty inexplicably in tune
The long walk ahead the worst of humanity to face
For my cherie I need to re-gather and escape
The sand dunes long and the sweat in its grandest flow
Thirst unquenched even the saliva soothing to swallow
I looked at my cherie wrapped in her cloths of hope
Clinging to me tightly in this barren terrain of no-hope
This used to be Halle's backyard landscaped by his dreams and vision
Italians came and went but now separated by a cartographer's lesion
Goats and militants graze in herds in the vast opens dry and hungry
History rewritten in this landscape where casualties are aplenty
Aid came in sporadic bouts through the lands and the seas
Compromised by human greed and by Nature's fees
The white man sang in concerts to millions in view
But for our existence, too late and too few
As I walk I remember a history that has repeatedly failed me
Hope hung by a thread frail in the contemporary but rich in pedigree
I wonder how many knew about our tragic fate
But looked the other way in apathy, consciences impotent and late
My dear I will take you to your promise land
A life where human rights, love and freedom stroll united hand in hand
I gaze for a possible sign from Solomon in the light of David
Over yonder I see a wave, a smile from faces familiar and placid
As the jeep speeds in an evening horizon, a second generation aid worker awaits………..
Mom, thank you for your unwavering care and devotion
You're the sole reason I stand here in my choice dreams of conviction
As my journey ends in a camp overflowing with hope and innocence
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poem by Dilantha Gunawardana
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