Water Rising Fast

Photo Courtesy: unhcr.org

We couldn't go back

Water was rising fast

Running right up to my chest

I felt totally helpless

I tossed caution, I fled

With a stove and gas cylinder

I'd thought the worst was over

When I escaped Myanmar.

Six refugees have been killed

Precious lives spilled

Like beans

Here I am stuck under a thatched

Roof that leaks

Cause we couldn't go back

A thousand more

Lost their homes to flash floods

Scrawny belongings washed away

Reminders of shame

Now inflicting pain

In harrowing detail

Thru a twisted absentia

We couldn't go back

Prisoners of inertia

Whose patience bust a crack

Washed away

We wish it was our pain

Washed away

Wishing it was the shame

Washed away

Wish it to war getting us displaced

Washed away

Wishing it was yesterday

With its graphic detail

We couldn't go back

Not to Myanmar its sacked

We couldn't go back

Not to our makeshift shack

There's water swelling off the ground

As from our eyes, water tumbles down

We can't seem to escape our past,

How long can we last?

The water's rising fast.

Akpan