Migrant

© 2020

Razor wire, took off my shirt and my skin
No way to get out or back in
they stick us with immune globulin
Just in case we got rabies
Barbed wire
surrounding the place where we sleep
Contains us like infected sheep
Memories are all we can keep
Of all our drowned babies

Man with a boat says they’ll welcome us in Crete
Cheap labour, hard work but leather shoes on our feet
24 hours to get us over for 10K
Its all we have, but I can’t see another way.
3 days later the sick ones start crying
The old and the wounded and babies are dying
4 days later a boat from the distant shore
He jumps across, leaves us and goes back, I suppose to get more
Big ugly storm took the boat on a rough ride
No one to steer us, no one to guide us
1 day later we’re crying with thirst
1 bottle left, they said “The children drink first! Watch it!”
That night the storm put us all in the water
Another big wave ripped my hands from my daughter
Happy to drown, but the sea wasn’t serving Didn’t go down, like I wasn’t deserving enough.

Cling to a big piece of wood in the dark
Kick out at nothing, thinking maybe a shark
Brought my daughter to give her a new life
“I’m coming back for you” is what I promised my wife.
Washed up ashore with no breath to pray
Nothing to thank for and nothing to say
Big ugly brute looks just like a fishherman Clutching a weapon in his big ugly hands. He says:
“See this thing I’m pointing at you?
Starts with an ‘F’ and ends in a ‘U’
Starts with a ‘K’ and ends in an ‘ov’,
And it doesn’t mean ‘kiss me my love’
Try to get up but his foot pinning down my hand
Streaks and bubbles of blood in the sand
I try to speak but my lungs full of water
Looking around but I can’t see my daughter
Kicks me and chokes me I'm dragged to a place
Where there's a heap of naked bodies the gun’s back in my face
I need to puke but there's nothing inside
Too weak to run and there's nowhere to hide
He says "Stand up"
Gives me a smile mean as his machete
Slits my nose the blood spraying like confetti
Last thing smell is him stinking like a yeti
And then he says me:
"Migrant, immigrant, vagrant, spy
Activist, Terrorist, I see it all in your eye
Where's your ID, your passport, visa, you liar
Give me your flous or I swear you're gonna die here!"
Right about then's when I heard the gunfire
This crew are gone like they flew up on a stage-wire
3 khaki suits lift me into the jeep
Needle goes in and I'm falling asleep and
And nothing hurts any more...
Please bring my daughter to shore
I just wanna hold her once more...
Once more

Now I wake up in a world of pain
Blood, shit, piss, puke and death stink through to my brain
Groaning, wailing around everywhere
Got to get out, got to get me some air
Far as I can see there's an ocean of tents
Nicely kept inside a barbed-wire fence
Finding my girl is my only desire
Praying she's somewhere behind this

Razor wire, took off my shirt and my skin
No way to get out or back in
They stick us with immune globulin
Just in case we got rabies
Barbed wire, surrounding the place where we sleep
Contains us like infected sheep
Memories are all we can keep
Of our drowned babies

Keep us behind barbed wire
Behind all ya razor wire