November 14 - For somebody

In memoriam for the 3 unknown (refugee) people,

at least 2 of them children estimated 9-13 yrs old,

washed ashore on Lesvos in the second week of November 2017

For somebody

Somebody must have seen you

when you were born.

Your mother that is

and perhaps your father

or was he away

fighting, or just defending the family?

Somebody must have fed you

because you have lasted some years.

Were there toys around you

where you spent the first years of your life

learning this cruel world

while playing between ruined houses?

Somebody must have thrown a bomb

or triggered a nasty gun

tearing apart people and homes

instilling an endless fear.

Did your mother die

or was it somebody else from the family?

Somebody must have taken the decision to flee,

you were too young to make that choice

and had to follow mother, or father

or, maybe it was an uncle

who tried to bring you to safety

together with maybe a brother and a sister.

Somebody must have protected you

on the road in the cold.

Maybe having to sleep under a naked sky

putting a warm blanket around you

whispering in your soft ear

that not everywhere are there bad people.

Somebody must have told you

about safe countries without a war.

Giving you sweet dreams

about a new and shiny life

where you can trust people

who do not kill.

Somebody must have told your protector

where to take a boat to this new life.

Or were you already on your own

having lost your family

just taking care of your siblings

trying to get them to a promised land?

Did somebody see you when you touched the water

or were you asleep and given a shock.

Or were you pushed

or was the boat not resisting the waves?

Did you cry out for your mother

or were you only concerned for your brother and sister?

All the somebodies who were in your life

do not know that you are now gone.

Into a sea that took your breath

into a heaven, of that I am sure.

Or were the somebodies you have known

long gone before you touched the water?

So many godless somebodies

who never learned to love.

Making war and killing not only you

but so many other innocent souls.

Turning them into nobodies

forgotten even before the war is over.

I am somebody reading your story

taking you into my heart.

Crying for you and telling the sea

how cruel it has behaved.

But it was not the sea (but somebody)

who decided your life was over.

(with thanks to Mary Staples)

© Smitaki 2017