A Country, My Home

• Sham Issa, Grade 7
• Poetry
• 2021

Australia, a country which has welcomed me in these five years,
Given me a beautiful home and plentiful of contented tears,
A country, a home which holds great triumph and love,
A country I am proud to be in, I hold my head high above.
But what about my country, my home, where my memories lie,
Memories of destruction and cries, memories of shattered looks in my mother’s eyes.
And as the sound of bombs moved closer so did my dismay and fear,
Our smiles were masks until nothing could be held in and out came every tear.
My first years in a new, peaceful country included embarrassment and shame,
My country Syria was not the same, and there was nothing else to blame,
For its brokenness and its hate, its violence and its dreadful state,
My country deserved better, this should not have been its fate.
While all that I have mentioned is Syria’s pain and fear,
I love my country with all my heart and will continue to through the years,
My country, my home, where my memories lie,
Memories of destruction, I wish I could replace with a smile.