Disconnection

Disconnected,
heavily defended,
I avoid you
when I pass you in the street,
our eyes don’t meet,
like empty shuttles
they seem to be travelling nowhere.

Disconnected,
heavily defended,
I hear the music play but don’t take time to listen,
see war scenes on TV but don’t take them in,
judge and
blame others.
I hurt the people closest to me.

Disconnected,
heavily defended,
my eyes are staring into space,
truth is not grasped,
beauty remains unseen,
I rush from one thing to the next,
life is just a word.

Disconnected,
heavily defended,
over my head,
I hear singing in the air.
There must be a God,
There must be a God,
There must be a God somewhere.

2003

– –

Poems chosen from an anthology of poems called ‘For Crying Out Loud – Voice of an Exile’, published early 2016.

Bettina

Bettina John von Freyend-Peterseil was born at the end of the 2nd World War in Germany. She exiled herself early on, travelling the world, never able to settle anywhere for long. She now lives in the West of Ireland, where she and her husband built their home, raised their children and tended the land. She has been teaching, writing and in the past 15 years creating her collage work.

The poetry compilation ‘For Crying Out Loud- voice of an exile’ comes at a time when globally people are forced to move on a large scale. Bettina offers a personal account of the mindset of a self imposed exile. She reveals her disconnection and her longing to belong mirroring a world also steeped in separation.

Ouevre

I’ve tried to run

Poetry by Bettina

I’ve tried to run from suburb to city, to mountains and sea, from father and mother to husband, son and daughter. I hold memories of passing moments like clouds, dissolving,...

How do you make green?

Poetry by Bettina

In school they threw her out of painting class. She was useless at colours, she says. Her face is wrinkled now. Her frame has shrunk to the size of a...

Still children seeking their way home

Poetry by Bettina

We are grown people we claim. To prove it our lips form a tight line, our faces show wrinkles which remind us of years of living, striving, surviving, crying after...

View all Works by this Author

Anthology

Be a moon

Poetry by Simran

Be a moon Float in the midst of An endless galaxy Be wild so the wolves will look up at night And howl Be peaceful in your solitude So the...

Voice

Poetry by Arwa Qutbuddin

Surreal this magical mess of being a woman riding high on passion and pain Swimming inside my liquid eyes this dream of a world Where softness is the new sacred...

उठूँ तुझे छूने को

Poetry by Omendra Ratnu

उठूँ तुझे छूने को, लालायित मन से आऊँ , पा के तुझे प्रगाढ़ विश्राम में ,निश्चिंत ! क्या करूं अतिक्रमण ,ठिठक के रह जाऊं , करवट से तेरी उठी हलचल...