Resilience, by Alhaji Kamara, who sought sanctuary in Swansea in 2003 from the civil war in Sierra Leone, and currently lives in Birmingham.
Resilience
We were bombarded
Bombed to the ground
But we refused to stay down
They tried to keep us down
But still we refused to stay down
We never drowned
Never let go our crown
We were chased out
Made displaced and refugees
Still we return
We rebuild our villages, cities and towns
We can never be knocked out and down
We are resilience
Our houses were burnt down to ashes
We rebuild from grass ose, pan body now to up-n-garet
We tie we belt
N win de fet
We got hit harder
But like rubber ball we bounced higher
Now we are flying high
Like a bird in the sky
We are shining star
Look how we de glitter
We are diamond stars
Look how Koidu de glitter
Very pretty city
Kono we are resilience
They can’t take away our ambiance
Despite the excruciating experience
We are still welcoming and giving everyone chance
But we are clever
We are wiser
We are using our experience
To rebuild
No time for grievance
We are people of high resilience
