No one leaves home
unless she hears
dead momma’s voice in her head,
in her ear saying “Go!”
No one leaves home
unless home chases you;
“Put your dreams in a rucksack
lest they put a blade to your throat.”
No one puts her kids in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land
or spends days in a truck
feeding on newspaper.
No one crawls under fences
or wants to be beaten
pitied, stripped searched
perhaps reviled.
“Go home!
Dirty immigrant
asylum seeker
sucking our country dry!
You with your hand out
messed up your country!
Now you want to mess up ours!
You don’t belong here!
Go Home!”
The words roll off your back
hurting less than strange men
forcibly between your legs
Yes, the insults are easier
to swallow
than the rubble, the hunger,
easier than knives
or the dead bodies of your children
No one would leave home
unless home chased you
to the road, to the shore
told you to quicken your stride.
“Go!
Now!
For anywhere is safer
than here.”
.
toritto 
This modern exodus has focused the attention of the world on the response by the US government. If troops open fire on these people when they reach the border, then the consequences might well bring down the president, and put America in the same regard as Israel. Once you start firing on unarmed civilians, whatever they are doing, we all know the next step from there.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Your post brought me to tears. My fear for my children’s future under a corrupt and violent government was far greater than my fear of leaving the homeland (Guyana) that I loved to venture into a strange land (Brazil) where people spoke another language.
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RB -I often wonder how my own grandparents did it.
https://toritto.wordpress.com/2016/08/01/coming-to-america-circa-1905-2/
Regards from Florida
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A beautiful family story of courage, determination, and persistence in the face of adversity. How easy it is for some of our American brothers and sisters to forget that their ancestors were also migrants or refugees seeking a better life for themselves and their children!
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