Beaches Of Hope, Seas Of Despair. Poem by David Wood

When governments advocate tyranny,
Promoting internal tensions between
Different factions, whether through religion
Race or ethnicity, and at the same time
Western governments provide them with
The necessary weapons, the result can only
Lead to a migration of the oppressed.

When Western governments take sides
And go to war in support of one side
They fail in diplomacy and statesmanship.
If governments lie to their people in order
To fight, like ‘weapons of mass destruction'
They fail the world and everybody suffers.
And the migration of the oppressed continues.

In this fog of war and desperation a new trade
Flourishes, people smuggling. The oppressed
Sell everything they own to these gangs who
Offer false promises of streets paved with gold.
If the oppressed reach the shores of Europe,
And don't drown in the Mediterranean, or die
Of cold or hunger, they reach Western Europe.

There they live in tents or in the streets begging
Or stealing to survive. Unwanted, unloved and
On their own they face a new persecution by
The very Western governments who supplied
Arms to their countries leaders. They fail asylum
Applications and are removed back to their
Country, or disappear into the Black Economy.

They live in the only dream they grab hold of.
Hope. They hope for a better life, they hope
For a secure future, they just hope to live.
They arrived on beaches of hope to be met
With seas of despair at every turn as Western
Governments fail in tackling the problem they
Helped to create and promote.

This elegy is for all who died fleeing persecution
They died alone with all hopes dashed and lay at
The bottom of seas, or on the streets, or in tents
Through cold or hunger. They are of all ages with
Nothing more sadder than a child washed up on
The beaches of Europe. They have become an
Unstoppable tide of humanity, a tide with hopes & dreams.