Syrian Exodus (For Syrian Refugees) Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

How many with hopes and exhaustion
have come to your doors knocking?
Would you have opened the doors
if they were just strangers and not your guests?
But when obligations to war-torn people
awakens a sense of duty to lend a helping hand,
could it be avoided or could you turn a blind eye to their fate?
If such was your own plight, how would you react
would you expect others to ignore your helplessness?
Where is the world today and where are the boundaries
where are they fleeing in multitudes seeking just shelter
from any country, any person, any home;
with no choices of their own, they come
with no guarantees of their tomorrows
they ask for no promises but just an overhead roof;
who knows when winter will come, how cold they will feel
who knows how their aching feet, their raging sad hearts
recollect of their own homes, their own country, their own joys
as today like beggars they stand and wait in other's lands;
this was not what they had ever hoped for
but as no one had come to help or save their plight
when their country moved into the hands that held the guns;
they decided they could not stay back amidst their anguish;
as they were too afraid to die, so fearfully they fled
they kept running, seeking safety, food and shelter.
How could they prevent their search
for self-protection and embrace their right for existence?
As refugees, they walked any road, crossed any seas
knowing humanity glows within the heart of the gentle;
and as nations stood up to do their duty comprehending
that children, women and men walked aimlessly,
compassion and sympathy roared like an Ocean declaring...
that God made this world as one big planet to walk freely
live freely, breathe freely the air, the waters to drink freely
and to uphold the 'survival of another' is a supreme virtue.