please you say we are not chickens
foxes and stoats will not eat us
if you let us out we will dig ditches
plant potatoes pick beans
but we have no eggs to give you
*
your parents fold your neighbour's discarded clothes
so you can lie
between the tracks
sleepers they say smiling their thin smiles
*
you dream you're travelling
in a great train
across a continent that prides itself
on indoor toilets running water
parks to play in on the way home
you dream of white noise a murmur of cars
taking children
to parties to ballet lessons
*
someone's found a football
your parents clap and shout
as you kick it into the fence
hey hey hey
*
in the evenings
Nizar sings and plays his oud
and everyone cries
|