760

By Jacqui Reed

Written following the drowning of 760 (not exact figures, could be 900) refugees in Libyan waters April 19^th there were 28 survivors. With the current refugee crisis in Syria this poem is equally relevant today.

Amidst unknown ocean currents,

Salty tears fall silently on damp boards,

Sea water slaps the wooden hull outside.

Deep in the belly of the driven beast, pangs of hunger pull on barren insides that dry retched- up their home land days ago.
A claustrophobic silence holds its breath choked by a clattering diesel engine.

Wooden beams groan, seams stretch as sweat soaked bodies press cracked dry lips to slits in old timber.
Lights, a glimpse of twinkling lights would signify their journey’s end.

Fleeing military dictatorship, starvation and death

Smugglers paid to get them over the border.

Through the burning sands of the Sahara to Libya;

This Mediterranean crossing, a final leg of a dangerous, expensive journey for asylum
Exposed to the cool night air, the upper deck fortunates wrap themselves in blankets.

Smoke in silence, imagining, tasting their new life in Europe.

The captain cuts the engine, land in sight,

Bodies uncurl and stir.

Pull a few possessions from plastic bags, excited preparations for the ‘Promised Land’.
Scent of fear fills stifled air.

Silent sobbing begins to rise with each violent slap of the hull on the ink black sea.

The hidden bough shudders violently, unsure footings lost on sodden deck

Children grapple aimlessly in the dark hold, search for invisible mothers’ eyes,

Throats choke back comfort as sea water pours into the lowly fishing boat.

 

A scramble for safety,

A stamped to one side of the overloaded vessel.

Soundlessly it lists, then begins to capsize in a horrifying slow roll into arcane waters.

Those below deck stood no chance, those on top thrown into churning seas.

Panicking, clinging, fighting to stay afloat.

Struggling to escape the chaos, of thrashing bodies.
Final hours spent holding on,

to floating corpses.
Jacqui Devenney Reed lives in Ireland and expresses herself as an artist  in the forms of writing poetry, photography and film making. She has also done some sketching and painting.