Hush, little baby, do not cry
Mummy is going to give you a better life
Across the border, she will sail
Across the waters, through treacherous waters
She will persist
Through the blackness of the night
Through the relentless wind and rain
To give you a better life
Through sacrifice and pain
Huddled as sardines, clenching onto hope
Holding you close, keeping you warm
With that ragged old blanket
To keep you safe,
To give her beloved child a better life
She shared her heartbeat, anxiously reverberating
Through an angst-torn chest
Sailing through hours of uncertainty
Her sacrifice?
Putting her faith and endurance to the test
Through tears and desperation, she does not look back
At the life that she is so eager to leave behind
Her tears freeze upon her cheeks
From the frost on that cruel night
She shivers with fear, excitement, and determination
To safely make that crossing.
Her husband didn’t make it
His boat, too feeble to take the weight of the mass of desperate
Migrants piled onto a rickety vessel
Which capsized due to the cruel night
Many lives were lost, many hearts broken, and dreams torn asunder
She raises her eyes to the distant skies
And asks herself, ‘Why’?
She then lowers her eyes, focusing on the home stretch
Not long now, closer, and closer, we move impatiently but calmly
Hush, little baby, do not cry
Mummy will soon give you a better life.