Mother and Child

Mother and Child

Lost to their home, and driven out
As the soldiers come. No doubt
That those who remain will die;
Even the children’s bodies lie,
Bleeding on the war torn soil;
A snake unwinding from its coil:
Fangs full of poison. Strike! Strike!
Whatever name it comes: the Reich,
People’s Democracy, Islamic State,
Empire, Kingdom, all bring this fate:
Massacre of innocents, the dead child,
Their bloody regime not meek or mild;
And so they flee, the family. Left behind
A world of cruelty, unseeing and blind;
These are a people who flee from fear,
Lives losing hope, lives lost to despair;
Possessions mostly abandoned, they flee,
Seeking a land where they can grow free;
Not welcome: strangers in a strange land,
Who have fled across the desert sand;
Nomads not out of choice, moving on,
Wearily trudging along, hope almost gone,
But for one kindly spark, those who give
Kindness to strangers, that they might live;
Into the wilderness they fled, seeking where
They could settle, live life without the fear;
Foxes have holes, birds have nests, it is said,
But where can this mother lay a weary head?
Mother and child, refugees, and so despised:
But divine encounters here disguised.