Broken homes, shattered dreams,
Dirty diapers, dampened sheets;
Sticky fingers, tangled hairs, tattered clothes,
Nagging stomachs, furrowed brows;
Watery eyes, tear-stained cheeks,
We are the children from the other side;
The kids your parents warned you of.
Your feet are on our necks,
Devalued and undermined like dirt.
Victims we are;
When the day breaks,
When hunger roars and bites,
When thunder rails,
When winter scowls,
And when the night howls.
We too, have dreams,
That one day;
On the fire of love,
A pinch of care,
A spoon of protection,
An iota of value,
Some cubes of provision,
Can make us better again – palatable children.
This poem was published in the February 2022 edition of the WSA magazine. Please click here to download.
Read – Grass – A Poem by Yaone Gaerupe, Botswana
