The Journey of an Exiled Mother 1/3

This poetic narration presents the physical, social, emotional, and geographical realities of a young Cameroonian mother in exile. Exiled in Switzerland, she faces a series of daily challenges that transform simple adaptation difficulties into complex trials. Her journey is a delicate blend of her moods and inner struggles, during which the narrator shares her deep reflections on exile and the loss of identity. These poems become the mirror of her most intimate thoughts, offering readers privileged access to her emotions and personal questions. Initially written in English, these three texts have been translated into French. Here we present the first poem.

Nowhere to go 

I have nowhere to go,
A lost soul on unknown winds.
From Algeria, Libya, Turkey, Tunisia,
The Mediterranean calls, but no home is there.
I come from a land whose name is barely spoken,
A place full of mystery and sorrow,
Where my childhood dreams once grew,
Now scattered like dust in the wind.

I was born where the earth touched the sky,
Where peace was once the song of every day,
But greed has broken her heart,
And now I stand, lost
A refugee in my own skin.
I never wanted to leave my home,
But fate has pushed me away,
A traveller with no place to go,
A wanderer who cannot return.

O my beloved country,
My true home,
Where love and memories should thrive,
Now turned into a place of no return.
The land of my youth is now a graveyard of hopes,
And I, a ghost searching for a place that no longer exists.

I have lost everything,
My family, my friends, my belongings,
Taken by the greed of men,
And now I am drifting,
A ship with no shore,
A shadow with no form.

O young generation, what happens to you?
Broken by the weight of human greed,
Thrown into a world that cannot care for you.
I search for refuge, but none is found,
I wander, but no place feels like home,
For no land will ever be home again.

Where do I go from here?
In a world that is free but empty,
Where no man owns the land,

I stand in silence,
Hearing only my own question:
Where do I go, when I have nowhere to go?

Kebei Raimatou

Member of the Vaud editorial team of Voix d’Exils