In
your dreams, the words slip out
between
the straight iron bars
and
over the barb-wired prison walls.
Passing
machine-gunned sentinels
in
lofty turrets, they tumble
into
narrow streets
and
gather in town squares.
‘Listen,
listen!’ the words say
to
anyone with half an ear for freedom
‘Look,
look’ they cry,
pointing
at the prison wall,
that
towers before them.
‘There
are innocents in there,
guilty
of nothing but dreams
of
peace and hope and harmony’.
But
life in a crowded cell with nothing
but
the cloying closeness of cell mates
And
the stench of bucket toilets
requires
more than dreams.
So
you conjure whispered words
into
the late-night pinpricking of plastic bags,
while
you plan a stealthy exchange,
with
visitors and family
who
bring food, laughter, comfort
and
news of an outside world.
As
you clutch your pinpricked words
and
the rustling plastic bag
in
the sweaty palms of your deception,
a
profusion of goodbyes hides
the
rushing of your heart’s blood.
Then
the words pass unwary guards.
A
smile, a nod, a clicking of stiff, leathered heels
and
they are on the streets.
Running
down laneways,
past
brightly lit market stalls
brimming
with exotic fruit and salty fish,
and
beggar children with pining eyes.
Past
the tea shop on the corner,
and
the secret garden of delights,
where
the scent of steel flowers from prison
sways
under a wretched darkening moon
There,
under a harsh neon light,
ink
turns pinpricked plastic
into
words on a naked page.
And
suddenly you are free.
Like
the stars that sparkle in a moonless sky.
Like
the dawn that wakes the fighting peacock.
Like
the sleeping citizens of the world
as
they greet the coming of a brand new day.
About the Poem ‘In Your Dreams’‘In Your Dreams’ was written after conducting creative writing workshops with Burmese refugees and inspired by a collection of poems called ‘Scent of Steel Flowers’ written by women political prisoners whose family and friends helped the authors smuggle their poems out of prison. The poems from the women were subsequently published in, Burma – Women’s Voices Together, 2003, Bangkok: Altsean – Burma pp 65 – 69.
