HOW THINGS WERE WHEN BOATS WERE TURNED BACK AND MOVEMENT TO AUSTRALIA WAS STRICTLY REGULATED – WHICH INCLUDED PEOPLE BEING HELD AY NAURU AND MANUS ISLAND

We’ve come from near and afar,

Tragic horror where we were,

Now we are here,

Across the oceans and the plains,

Our home regimes were major pains.

We pawned our jewels,

Shelled out much money,

For passage to a land,

Of milk and honey.

A land of promise

We were told,

Awaits those who cross

From countries

Whose birthrights are sold

On sad regimes

Which make no sense,

Anathema to those

With pounds and pence

Who oppose autocracy,

And dream democracy.

Challenged, spurned, cast adrift,

We left behind a major rift,

An ideological chasm so wide,

It casts us on the other side,

Of a yawning gulf

We will never bridge.

So we arrived

Down under,

Was our trip a massive blunder!?

Herded into compounds like cows,

In camps,

Contained within razor wire.

We yell,

“Is Australia ANOTHER living hell??”

“Justice please,

Justice” we call,

Hear us …

Our despair quells.

Our plea a prayer,

Will it fall on deaf ears,

Raising within,

Internal fears,

That we will be moved.

Back. From whence we came,

Or worse,

Oh SHIT!!!

RETURNED,

From where we left,

We will face torture,

Trial,

And DEATH.