"The Exit"

Poet's note: My name is Abdisalaan Haji, and in short I was born in Somalia 1988 during the backdrop of civil unrest.I think to fully comprehend this poem, one must understand the historic turmoil that surrounds my once peaceful home and how we got ourselves into this predicament. Ominous of internal hostility that have torn men from their families, mothers from their progenies, and children from their childhoods. In retrospect is due to the vicious cycle of hate and violence that centers itself at the heart of the issue, and in my opinion can only be portrayed in a seamlessly dark and inevitable nature given the demise of traditions that once were.


Death lingers near the camp of injustice
The camp where the trusted
Sanction mothers to be exposed and violated
Leaving starving children to be manipulated and
left with empty palms as though they never waited
But even after, death lingers here like the stench of a carcass
Only to be reminiscent of justice blurred,
The only place in the world where deaths aren’t per
Death lingers in this land
For the same reasons that veins are drained completely dry,
And blood is spilled for the sake of pride
It lingers in this nation where deprivation and poverty
Are serving time as brothers of armed robbery
But in the answer peace has to be
Cause honesty, suppressed is corruption at its best
And in a trial of a battle within which has no retreat,
Instability and grief are the companions of defeat.

Abdisalaan Hajj
Copyright ©2010