Reader's letter: When will my tears dry?

When will my tears dry?

You said you were protecting civilians

Then you killed Gadhafi

Libya became a battlefield

Paradise for the smuggler

Gateway to the Mediterranean cemetery

Mothers are crying

Ghettos are lonely

Our leaders are silent

The African Union remains mute

And our youths are dying

 

When will my tears dry?

Today I woke up to news of another boat disaster

Yesterday I saw a mother crying like a child

I saw a neighborhood lose dozens of their youth

A whole village in mourning

I met a couple that just became childless

 

When will my tears dry?

When will my tears dry?

Not when Europe becomes the only hope of our young

Not when the youth believe that we cannot make it here

 

When will my tears dry?

Back when you took away my trusted friend

You made that innocent lady a widow

You make this stainless child fatherless

You took away a perfect mother

 

Someone just put up a property for sale

For them it is either death or sail

For the ones that dock, Europe is just misery

For all the long months, no one is receiving a salary

Earning a living means prostitution and drug trade

And now all their hopes are fading

Yet on a daily basis the young are leaving

 

This poem was written by Edrissa Baldeh from The Gambia. He currently studies in Japan.