HAVE… YOU DON’T HAVE…

In the world’s exile

I have a name 

I have a homeland 

A home to collect my dreams

I have a playground for my children to play 

A park to walk or run in A square to shout out loud 

for my rights

I have a sidewalk to walk my dog 

and greet the passersby 

A garden to tend my roses and my trees 

A slope to climb and reach 

the peak of freedom

I have a sandy beach 

to draw the shape of a heart a

and upon it to enchant love 

A sea for its waves

 to lash me and to gather shells from its depths.

I have hope and desires 

when day breaks and in the evening some to stand by me a

nd many others to hear my words

 to cheer me or to criticize me

My journeys begin and end on illuminated streets

But how many have all these or how many don’t have all these?

How many left behind t

heir homes in flames 

their dreams desolate a

nd abandoned in their flight?

How many saw the scorching tongue 

of the sea dissolve 

their children and they, 

without absolution, to embrace 

the dragon of humiliation?

Everything they sowed to wound 

them everything they desired to trample them…

How many bear 

on their backs the spark of fear the sharp root of pain 

that dries up the tree of their life?

Persecuted and wandering 

with an eternal grievance, 

they don’t have what I have!

NIKOS DELIGIANNIS