by Enas Suleiman
Samia Yusuf Omar was a young Somali athlete who participated in the 2008 African Championships, the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and was hoping to prepare in time to compete in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She drowned earlier this year trying to reach Italy to search for a coach.
Please read this heartfelt article about her first:
http://www.aljazeera.com/sport/olympics/2012/08/2012826142635318631.html
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What happens to you, my dream
when you’re tugged with my soul
to the ear-piercing silence of the sea?
Do you, knead my chest
in hope I would blow air bubbles
to cough back to life?
Because let me tell you, my dream
I wanted to slip into your soles
Tie your lace securely around my feet
And run
I wanted to tone down the nerves of my heart
To hear the start signal of my race
And run,
run
run.
With my shyness as my shelter
My inexperience as my anchor
I ran.
But the waters leading to you
anchored me in North African waters
that have lost far too many bodies in its vastness
that have seen far too many boats overcrowded with dreams.
Even though I can no longer reach the crystal-clear surface
I still foresee you
I see your tide coming in to carry my siblings on your waves
safely to the shores of their sister Ethiopia
to crayon new dreams
in new pages
in a new home.
But…please
Sprint to the sun instead
Bring it down
Let its yellowness beam over abandoned hopes of young Somalis
in their own land, in their own home
turning packed stadiums
into skies of blue flags and white stars.
Let each ray be an Olympian reality
for every boy and every girl shying,
hiding behind doors of opportunity.
Let each ray be like dynamite lit with will
to explode in victory.
Let them know the gold, silver and bronze
impatiently await to hang over their perspiring necks
and protruding chests
To them I’d like to say: dream and live.
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