The Young Refugee And My Mask Poem by Joseph S. Josephides

I am an actor, deep down I am a politician,
In the dressing room I solve crosswords,
I search for green horses,
I mindlessly stare at the television.

A sparrow pecks at my window alerting me
to watch the news: a child lies sleepless
in front of his parents' corpses,
they carry it to a boat, as a refugee
the sea washes him up on shore for an endless sleep,
in his pocket, a note which read
‘I will report you all to my God…'

For 1-across of the crossword I answer ‘Drama'.
But how can I perform the young refugees' drama?
By cutting my skin? To the depths of my bones?
For 3-down it asks me: ‘It enters a slaughterhouse
without bleeding'. ‘Sunbeam' I answer and lean over.

Actor! What morals do I embody? I stand, not stand up for,
the fib shies from my lips that have lied,
my mask removes the mask from the face
the truth interrogates me how the truth is being killed
For 10-down I answer for myself also: ‘Hypocrite' -
I use wax to stick wings on the spectators of the planet.

The heavy mask makes me sluggish and I cannot keep up
with History who is ahead with the child on her back.
.

Joseph S. Josephides


Translation in English by Orla Hadhisofocleous (English School, Nicosia, Cyprus)
.

* A poem accusing the E.U. which was mindlessly staring and had an hypocrite attitude towards the hundreds of thousands of refugees who were trying to get in Greece, and have a safe life, away of the war in Syria. The death of the kid on the beach, is a real fact.