Verve 2022 | Page 26

How do you want to die ? Lottie Hobbs

I didn ’ t choose to leave , I was swept up with the other eight hundred thousand Childless mothers , Transported away from the AK47 ’ s smothered
Laughs . Then I tumbled into a tent . I didn ’ t know what to do , everything branded blue . These poles , this fabric dome , Was that my home ?
Then the fire started , from a dropped match , Riding on the warm breeze , A famished beast , Eating all . Mine , and ten thousand tents , ceased
To exist . So I spent all my life ’ s savings To step on that raft , Without a life jacket , without a map , Flat packed belongings on my back .
And I yearned for the solid ground , A home , a harbour , a hand . Suddenly A ship came headlong , between us and that bank , And it clipped our raft , we sank .