A Safe Haven

A poem from WRS volunteer, Gaye Pereira-Jackson.

A Safe Haven

Moments like these, racing through me:


Looking out the train window,


stacks of glass on glass in square blocks of cement.


Sometimes, Flame trees, green and lush.


But moments like these, fleeting


I'm miles away, I'm someplace else -

Was my home, my family. My haven!



Moments like these passing me by:


as I wander through streets,


alleyways wafting in dark sewage;


Hawkers at stalls calling to me.


My hips sway, my feet sink in searing sand, sunshine warm.


Slow measured steps along the dead concrete,

flights of stairs, then some more.


Opening the door to a tiny, crowded nutshell school.



And I can’t breathe here, the children

smiling yet sad, welcoming, questioning.

What can we do? What can I do


with moments like these?


They are the broken pieces of my longing heart.


Struggling, heavy, feeling overwhelmed

 but keeping me together in these moments’ reality.



Moments like these, slipping, speeding away:


like endless traffic in angry madness,


in a city that never sleeps. People milling, jostling for space.


The troubled silence in my heart guides me to their faces.


One by one I dream for each;


For all the things they want, good things they need;


For freedom, learning, love, success. For a safe haven -


Each thought embedded, embroidered into moments like these:

Sitting on a chair, a million miles away, I remember


A hot steamy day, in a hot steamy classroom – 


A heart beating for moments, not like these.

Someone, anyone, give them back

Their home, their family, a safe haven!

- Gaye Pereira-Jackson