Immigrant Dreams

A child of two lands

And two different cultures

Driven to find greener pastures

Fleeing from war, anguish and pain

I came to this land hoping to gain

A better life for my family and I

A chance for us to do more than survive

I came here a lifetime ago

I crossed many waters to land on this shore

A shore that held the promise of dreams fulfilled

The promise of a life of which I only dreamed

Here there would always be food and clean water

And schooling for my daughter

There would be no poverty, hunger or war

And opportunities would flow outside my door

What I found when I landed upon this shore

Was not what I dreamed of a lifetime ago

Problems abide in this foreign land

They are just of a different nature from what I left behind

There is still hunger but on a smaller scale

No one wants to employ foreign workers

Go back home they say

So I work in a diner

Although I have four degrees

I toil and I sweat to meet my family’s needs

I often dream of my home

On that other shore

I want to go back

To where I was before

But I cannot leave

Not just yet

I have growing children

And a load of debt

I will stay here just a few years more

and then I will return to that other shore

There is still hope in this land

For dreams unfulfilled

Hope for my children

but not for my dreams.

By Maureen Injete Chesoni