When Caro Crossed The Sea

When Caro stood up, dusted the seat of her skirt that Friday night
and bade farewell to her fellow hairdressers under the flyover,
she must have thought in her heart,
My God is about to change my levels;
He will cause my enemies to hide their faces in their armpits.

When Caro received her travel papers from the dubious agents
who ferried hundreds of girls to distant lands in search of greener pastures,
she flipped through the documents with the glow of light
from her phone, huddled in a corner with her luggage, waiting for the call.
She must have thought in her heart,
These papers do not look so fake; My God will shield me
till I earn enough to renew them.

When Caro and the other girls piled into the boot of the Hilux Van
speeding into the dark, through unknown territories,
clutching their hearts and their luggage with all their might,
she must have thought in her heart,
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I shall fear no evil.

When Caro grew so thirsty she drank her own piss
and watched others get killed or roasted in the heat of the desert sand
and when she had to give her body in exchange for tiny morsels
of food and little or no drink,
she must have thought in her heart,
I shall not die but live, and declare the works of the Lord.

When Caro crossed the sea, looking gaunt and ghostly,
coming face to face for the first time with her new madam,
who briefed her on the nature of her work,
she must have cried out in her native tongue,
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Image source: japantimes.co.jp