By Basmah Saqib

I’m out with my flag
strapped to my backpack
and I’m staring
again at the Houses that have given up caring
When is my voice gonna be heard?
When will my government learn that
We’re cursed?
Sitting on a moral debt
while the economic one gets worse, How
can we crawl out of this
gain face once again
It’s as though we threw our own name in the mud again –
Didn’t we learn from the past that laws based on hate can never create peace,
history is fact.
I’ve got my mob behind me
a darkened patch
A cloud of anger, buzzing hate,
Sick of the wait -
It’s been years
of fighting this machine, my screams, who’s listening to ME?

Wait…Stop
Hold the anger, stop the rush
I’m yelling and I’m screaming and all I’m getting is hush?
What’s going on?
Why can’t I make a change?
No matter how hard I try
to get my message on a page, “they”
won’t listen.
Maybe…I should stop and listen
to myself? What exactly am I saying? I want -
Safety and autonomy for my family, I want -
us to be free but,
I  wanna be safe and I want a voice to speak but I don’t
wanna be spoken to in a way with which I don’t agree – what am I asking for?
I want world peace
Democracy overseas and change – change?
But I have all these things the Great
Charter trickled down from 1215 into my life and set us all free, wait -
Maybe what I have to do is open my mind
Open myself to the sound of my own voice
What I want is tolerance, love and culture -
I want our country to have a love for the colours of others –
How will the government achieve that?
It won’t…If I wanna be happy
with the country that I’ve got
I’ve gotta make it myself
Stop acting like it’s “their” fault
Step down
Build Britain from below
No act of parliament could tell me what I already know
I wanted change…I need to BE the change I want
The government’s got me, it’s doing what it can,
Fighting a threat that’s close at hand but what
am I doing to make my country better?
What kind of message am I hurling at the minister?
Mr B, what’s the point in blaming it on you?
When really you’ve done all you can do
The parliament’s been trying to improve since day one
But isn’t it time my own revolution begun?
It’s time for change and change I see
Isn’t gonna start in Downing street
Now I realise the need to take my own voice and point it straight back to me.
The last ten years of pointless anger at the system,
Crowds and rallies – we were all on a personal mission but -
No.
The next ten years should be anger at US for NOT opening our mind to others,
NOT opening our homes to those that need us
– even complete strangers –
I need to revive myself
Start with myself
Before I can come to the edges of the gates of democracy
And throw myself
At the Parliament’s feet
Complaining
Angrily waiting
For change

Because it has to start with me.

Basmah Saqib is a student of Law at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. An ardent enthusiast of poetry, including the works of Lord Byron and John Keats, she has composed poetry for many years, taking influence from these writers and usually employing an archaic style, an element she has deviated from in this particular contribution. Her work has won her numerous awards including, more recently, the UK-wide Young Muslims Talent Competition.