This poem was inspired by the book The Island by Victoria Hislop.
I gazed upon your dusty streets,
Your windowless walls filled with pain.
The blossom still blows across the ground,
Will there be life here once again?
I wandered slowly down your pathways,
I breathed in the murky sadness.
The wind whispers memories through the square,
Of days that once brought gladness.
Towering high above the rocky shores below,
A medieval fortress surrounds the islands bay
The overgrown blooms of pink and yellow
Easily tempt the traveller’s way.
A precarious stroll along the island fort,
Only adds to the peril that their walls once faced,
A concrete tower stands empty and forgotten,
Where hundreds of lepers bones are eternally encased.
An island filled with death and war,
That had been savaged through the ages,
Was strangely saved by disease and sickness
And is now recorded over pages.
They were disheartened and disfigured when they
First arrived in drones,
But after months of painful renovation they now
Made these streets their homes.
A colony of lepers that were cast out
And left to rot.
A communal bond and unity born from
The disease that time forgot.
An inspirational uprising that would temporarily
Bring them life,
Until eventually they would be welcomed back
When their disease was no longer so rife.
An island filled with pain and death
Where people dared not tread,
At last became their home and haven
And now there rests their dead.
The tourists trek over cobble and stone,
The paths are now well trodden,
The lives that were transformed here
Will never be forgotten.
By Kate Hames
Don’t ever let anyone make you think you’re not good enough.
Follow your dreams right now! Don’t wait until tomorrow,
next week, next year. Stop planning, start doing 🙂
‘Blind faith is no way to run a world’ – Victor Stenger
Made A Hames 