Asylum

Mehmet al Assad



Will you please observe through the wire
I am sewing my feet together
They have walked about as far
as they ever need to go.

Will you further observe
through the wire
I am sewing my heart together
It is now so full of
the ashes of my days
it will not hold any more.

Through the wire
one last time
please observe
I am sewing my lips together
that which you are denying us
we should never have
had to ask for.

Our thanks to Mehmet al Assad and The Age for permission to reproduce this poem

© Mehmet al Assad and The Age 2002