There Are Starlit Dreams (Refugees: Waypoint Sudan To Europe) Poem by Leonard Dabydeen

In the deep caverns
of their pounding heart
there are starlit dreams
they flicker like tiny lanterns
prodigious with silvery hopes
like clusters of starry lights
on a Christmas night
in a festive shopping mall
in a city centre
where drifters scuttle or scramble
from booth to booth
fingering coffee cups
and ice-cream cones
sometimes tongues keep lapping
like panting animals
wet with desire
in their hearts they know
mouths to feed
hunger clings to empty stomach
like man's best friend
abuse burns in fiery flares
full of angst
full of binge and bile
so they turn their backs
in the deep caverns
of their pounding hearts
this they know
there are starlit dreams.