My first ride on a bus
One summer day
Off to camp we were
Without any delay
We were all skinny kids
Full of ambition
Ready for any blitz
But all malnutrition
We climbed the high mountain
The air was so very fresh
The camp had one big fountain
And surrounded by wire mesh
We ate four times a day
Well prepared food
Each had their own tray
Life was going to be so good
After a couple days
We started missing our mothers
The freedom of our little village
Our sisters and brothers
The freedom as I remember
Was like a bird in its maiden flight
Was hard for us to surrender
We were crying every night
All of that good food
That we never seen before
Was surpassed by the freedom
Our little village had in store
And so we decided to escape
Every day we had a plan
When darkness would fall on the mountain
We would crawl in our bunk beds again
Antoni could not see well at night
I was terrified with out lights
Kosta was afraid of heights
And Stamati was always full of mosquito bites
Soon time came to go home
Felt it was for ever
It was only two weeks long
From the collection's own note: the images with these poems are AI-created artistic renderings by the source, not historical photographs.