by Emma Freeman

As I watch the passengers board

I wonder...

Where are they coming from?

What have they just left behind?

What do they wish they could see or touch one more time?

I wonder if they know where they are going

If they have any sense of the impact

they will have on what lies ahead of them

What baggage do they carry?

How did they choose what to pack and what to leave

What was necessary and what there wasn’t room for?

Suitcases full of delicate hopes and fragile, silent dreams

Layers of fears carefully folded and contained

wounds

such deep wounds tucked into pockets

Kept safely in a place hidden from view

Will they clothe themselves in all that they carry

or shed some layers during their journey?

How have they been shaped by it all

and I wonder

I how that will that trickle down the line

how it has already trickled down the line…