The Unseen Shield
Beyond the borders drawn in sand and ink,
Where silence meets the thunder of the gale,
Stand women at the very jagged brink,
With spirits forged where earthly comforts fail.
They carry homes in bundles on their backs,
And lullabies to drown the sound of flight,
Treading through the dust of weary tracks,
To find a flicker in the hollow night.
Justice is not a hand-out or a plea,
But the unbreaking vow to see them whole.
It is the right to breathe, to act, to be,
To mend the fractured rhythm of the soul.
Give justice by the opening of the gate,
By honouring the stories they have kept,
By tearing down the scaffolding of hate,
And drying tears that history has wept.
When we provide the floor, the roof, the bread,
We weave a safety net that spans the earth.
For in the shelter where a child is fed,
A thousand dreams are granted second birth.
Gain protects a harvest we all share,
The strength of nations found in open arms,
A world redeemed by collective care,
Secured against the reach of future harms.
For every woman seeking distant shores,
Whose courage is the compass and the light,
We open up the long-locked, heavy doors,
To turn the tide and set the balance right.
In giving justice, we ourselves are freed;
In gaining protection, we sow the vital seed.