Saturday, March 14, 2015

Standing on the border


 


Their dripping shirts hung all askew

Breaths they catch with their rancid crew

Their blistered backs and reddened eyes

Pause to see the darkening skies



A chilling wind as they heard them say

“Don't want you here, now go away”

“A short stay please” and begging look

“I’m standing here, I’m not a crook”



No room for you the wind does say

“Can't feed our own, so go away”

“I’ll work real hard, soon you will see

I came to make my family free”



“Why did you not knock upon our doors

Instead of sneaking to our shores?”

“No patient pride do we possess

I did sneak across I do confess”



“We want to be here, please don't you see

Our crying eyes and hunger be ?”

“Life offers nothing in our homeland we

Starved and struggled to reach your land”




“But you’re not welcome here my friend

Go back to your own troubled land”

“I’m on your shore can you not see

I can't go back I am not free”



“Our borders fenced you cannot cross”

“I prayed to God with no remorse”

A pointed gun positioned high

With his last hope and tearful eyes.



“But my children live upon your land

I came back again to see”

With struggling breath and reaching hand


“Please take care of them for me.”


Olivia Bredbenner







Friday, March 6, 2015

A poem in my pocket


 


I carry a treasure dear to my heart

Only a reach in my pocket and then I start

To savor the memories of a love so true

The story is forever and the words so few




It has curled up and faded and is now worn

I memorized the words even though torn

A love that exists in the world of my mind

Undone by an illness that was so unkind




It's a treasure that no one can take away

Although people will come and some may stay

All our colors take turns in each of our lives

Memories and words last a lifetime and thrive




My pockets keep changing as fleeting time goes

Still holding the memories in music and prose

Ever etched into time and sometimes sung by the birds

The poem in my pocket lasts forever without words
 
 

 4/3/2010
Olivia xoxo