Read by author
Not my child Laying limp in the sand Face down in the sea Not my child Huddled unbreathing In a cargo container Not my child Stranded alone Dead on a beach Not my child The curl of his fingers The curve of his cheek Not my child Hair soft as thistledown On the nape of his neck
Author’s Notes
1. I wrote ‘Not My Child’ in response to the growing number of children dying in Europe as they and their families try to reach safety as they flee from violence in their home countries.
2. The poem won second place in the Universal Human Rights Student Network’s human rights poetry contest. The theme of the contest was ‘Refugees and the message to Europe’. The short-listed poems can be found here.
Copyright © 2015 Lindsay Oliver