Crossing

I.             borderlands

fleeing from the country

he escaped to

the fields of powder shine

sharper than a tyrant's 

machete slashing

fingers and toes

as he wades

through forests

buried in whiteness

trudging slowly

on the faces

of rocks gasping for air

under the shadow

of dead stars

he aims a crystalline fist

at the heavens

taunting the gods

with a bonfire hunger

defiant ember

burning brighter

than the written and unwritten laws

of this and that land

II.           seas

the prime minister apologizes

for lives lost

aboard the MS St. Louis

precious

as those on Komagata Maru

or the sunburnt migrants

adrift on rubber

boats bloating the Mediterranean

but he has no idea

what it means

to be driven into exile

salvage photographs already saved

from fire

have no room for memories

dock on a shore

and not touch the sand

turned away again

and again left 

to be swallowed 

by raging tides 

of men—

landless

asleep on waves

buried at sea