Anxiety

I hear strange voices speaking in my mind
Hallucinations of the dead make me blind
Pictures and images spread through my head
I can’t sleep, at all, my room is dark, ants crawl
Everywhere
I hear their tiny feet on the floor, step, step, step
That is how scared I am, so scared
I stay awake, shivering on the cold floor,
Not so much of a bed

We wave goodbye to our loved ones
To Australia we go
Our ships sail far from our country
Gone are the poppy fields
Gone are struggles for food, for water, for comfort
Gone is our living in fear, our living with the Taliban
Our ships sail from our fear
To reach Australia’s beautiful shores

Why do they beat me?
Blow after blow, after blow
My skin turns red, then blue
As the smell of cigarettes seethes through his breath

Why do they persecute me?
I came here for freedom, not prison
I am chained, cold and frightened,
And lost, no light is in the room
The only glimmer comes through the peep-hole
When the screws come into to beat

Why am I an illegal immigrant?
Why? Why? Why?

As my bedroom door opens
As the faint light pierces my eyes
And, even though my skin is naturally dark
From the sun of my old country,
I so want to go back to now
My skin is pale

Another day at the detention centre
At this hellish detention centre
In the “lucky country,” I have heard them speak
The time has past long ago
For tears to come down my face for me to weep
I have gone past that now

Thanks John for looking after us
I have no help
My family are sick,
My son has tied his lips together
My wife does not see me
My daughter has been raped

Thankyou John, I have no hope at all

Peter Najjar, Tuesday, 6 May 2008,11:30 PM