My Poems

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A Girl’s Story

I could not tell them how I felt
I was not me
I could not cry
For if I did I might not stop
So I dared not feel the sadness.

For one whole year I could not speak
My voice vanished
Into thin air
And everywhere I looked I saw faces
Filled with pity and despair.

People spoke to me in gentle voices
But I could not respond
How could I say anything I felt
To people who would not understand
The pain and terror that were only mine?

I went to bed but dare not sleep
For fear of bad dreams
And when I accidentally fell asleep
Someone would wake me from my screams.

I could still hear the gunshots
And my mother’s terrified screams
They tortured my brothers and my dad
They raped my mother and my sisters
And left them all to die.

Eight years had gone by since that day
The soldiers came into our village
There were twelve of them
Not much older than I
They were shouting and boasting
As though they were drunk
“Come on, lads, let’s do it”
Two of them held back
But the oldest one said
“That’s what we’ve been ordered.”
They did not see me as I hid
I tried to shut out my mother’s pleading
And cries of terror from my sisters
As they murdered my brothers and my father
As though they were dogs.

My grandma said that I should leave
To be safe and to start a new life
She sent me across the border in a cart
And that is how I can tell my story.

I want the world to know I am not alone
In having an experience of this kind
Every night and every day
My countrymen, women and children
Are suffering the same way
Having to endure
Brutality
Persecution
Rape
Torture
Execution
At the hands of Burma’s Military Regime.

I want the world to know and I want them to care
About what is happening to my people
And I want the world to help to stop
The unnecessary suffering of these people.

As long as I live I shall not rest
Until my people are safe
And can live without fear
Until they get the freedom
And rights which they deserve
And to be free from
Brutality
Persecution
Rape
Torture
Execution
At the hands of Burma’s Military Regime.

 

(This poem was inspired by the terrible suffering of ethnic people of Burma, and dedicated to the orphans of the civil wars in Burma.)

 

Feraya

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