Bidonville Poem by Christopher Tye

Bidonville

Welcome to Bidonville home of broken dreams,
Shantytown of lives lost to the world,
A place of corroded dreams and hopes,
Corroding as fast as the oil-drums Bidonville is built from.

Bidonville home of the outcasts and the failed,
Life just grinds you into the dust here,
Trying to survive with nothing,
Wondering why the hope died here,
Surrounded by poverty and the forgotten.

Bidonville like all shantytowns welcomes all into its doors,
High-born or low-born all the same here,
One town and one people built from hopelessness,
A township hidden from view as the lucky look away.

Prey that you'll never be unfortunate to arrive at Bidonville,
Hard work and hope of little value here,
Trapped by circumstance and poverty to the daily hell of here,
For once you're here you'll never be able to leave.

By Christopher Tye