A Child Like Me

There I was,

Just a child like me,

in a round room, confined.

Lost, bewildered, feeling blind.

When I asked the teacher for a safe place,

I was told to stand in the corner.

I tried to cry, but dry tears are weightless.

Those unfeeling echoes show no mercy.

As I still hear the canyon walls say to me,

Hey, you better suck it up,

And you better stop acting up.

I wasn't very old,

When I was first told,

I should know my place.

That maybe, even a child like me,

Could find a role to play,

In humanity.

I need a place to hide my pain,

But here I am, still looking.

I sat at a desk not designed for me.

An innocent empty mind,

To be filled with a victor's version of history.

Learning maths to help build a better bomb.

I was perfectly moulded to fit a broken society.

I tried to cry, but dry tears are weightless.

Those unfeeling echoes show no mercy.

As I still hear the canyon walls say to me,

Hey, you better suck it up,

And you better stop acting up.

Do you think it was cold?

When I was first told,

I should know my place.

That maybe, even a child like me,

Could find a role to play,

In humanity.

I am not supposed to be talking,

But here I am, still hurting.

Do you think even a child like me can rise,

I know it's shocking,

But here I am, still asking.

Even a child like me

Even a child like me

© 2023 John Osinga. All rights reserved. St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada.

Written for the native children taken from their homes to be educated

by a self-righteous, prejudiced system.