I shouldn’t really be writing this naïve drivel. I have no idea at all of the hardships these desperate people go through. I wanted to imagine how it must feel though to finally find yourself in front of an uncaring bureaucracy. Obviously I, a secure white Englishman, whose history goes back hundreds of years in this my home country, am far too safe to understand. My pen came up with this. I hope it doesn’t offend anyone.
The hopelessness…
Invalidated… It was such an ugly word So many tall letters It looked faintly absurd. But the word simply robbed him Of chances he had Struggles to get here So brutal, so bad. Beaten, ***** and robbed He’d slipped out of Mogadishu His parents both dead now He was there sole issue. He paid all his money For a hopeless sea trek And got washed up on shore Now the boat was a wreck. It was filled to the gunwales With people like he Many were lost As the boat wrecked at sea. But he never gave up He just fought all the way And now six months later He arrived at this day. The bureaucrat before him Had a large black word stamp He was clutching it so hard He surely had cramp.
And then there it was That strange looking word That made him an alien Akin to a ****. So all of the struggles And all of the pain Now left him deflated It had all been in vain. How desperate he’d journeyed To leave behind war What now! Invalidated! His future unsure!