Fear

Fear should not be a child's constant companion

Stringing tender nerves taut with random alarms;

A child should know the world holds compassion enough

And run, run for safety into open welcoming arms.

Fleeing from persecution to freedom a child should not arrive to find

Her haven a prison, barred, barbed and guarded

By dark uniforms holding her confined

Her fear remaining locked within

To breed trembling thoughts of what the future holds.

Can we, who flaunt our freedom to the world,

Knowing the truth as it unfolds

Before a child's haunted eyes,

Not recognise that ragged, tawdry thing

That cannot reach and wrap a child

Within the safety of a sheltering wing.

Hazel Rennie.