Once.

• Nikki Wong, Grade 8
• Poetry
• 2014

Once I lived a happy life with my family at home.
Once a bomb landed near the park and my friend died.
Once I stepped on a landmine,luckily it didn't go off.
Once we fled the country at night.
Once we were floating on the boat.
Once my parents were both captured,leaving me and my sister behind.
Once the two of us floated on a tree trunk for days and nights.
Once we were refugees.
Once we landed in Australia.
Once I heard our parents were killed.
Once we cried in each other's arms.
I don't understand what I am doing.
I feel like an automaton.
Once my life felt like heaven.
Now it felt like hell.
Once I felt alive
But now I do not
Once this was my story.
But now it would change
I will change it.
I will write my own future,
Using my own ways.
Once.