I Carry the Weight — Soumaya’s Baggage to Oxford

We asked our scholars to go back to the moment they packed their luggage in preparation for their journey to Oxford. But instead of clothes and books, we asked them to think about the stories, people, memories, hopes, and all immaterial things that they would put inside. Find other stories in this series here.

It is autumn and it’s school season,
I’m sitting in a café, working,

A little boy walks in, selling tissue papers,
No attention was given.

And people keep on drinking their coffees,
No attention was given, no kindness was shown.

The boy comes to my table, and my heart breaks,
I give him a cookie, and buy his tissue papers,

He looks at me, with a smile, touching my soul,
I look at him and my heart breaks a bit more.

I look at him and I see a broken childhood,
I look at him, and he invades my heart.

I walk him out; I watch him walk away,
He disappears in a crowd of school children,
He stood out in his way of carrying a weight of an unjust system.

My heart breaks, slowly, shattering like
A crystal vase falling, and brutally caressing the floor.

He was only ten, and
I carry the weight of that little boy,

I carry it in my heart.

I dream, I hope, I pray for,
A little boy, a little girl.
I dream of you; I dream for you,
I fight for you, so you don’t carry the weight.