Guest contributor
Ko Ko Aung
Two Places
for those who cannot return
In Sydney
the trains run on time,
coffee stays hot,
and my phone fills with emails about visas.
In Myanmar
someone’s house is burning.
I spend my days
translating fear into legal language,
writing sentences that say
he will be arrested,
she cannot return,
the risk is real.
The law asks for evidence.
Myanmar is full of it.
Mass graves.
Airstrikes.
Students who disappeared.
Sometimes it feels strange
living this quiet life
while my people learn
the sound of drones in the sky.
But distance
does not mean safety.
Every message from home
arrives like a small explosion.
Ko Ko, they took him.
Ko Ko, the village is gone.
And still
the world moves normally.
In the morning
I button my shirt,
open my laptop,
and try again
to build a bridge of words
between the country I live in
and the country
that refuses to let me go.
Ko Ko Aung is a Myanmar born immigration lawyer currently serving as a Special Counsel at Albert Arthur Lawyers in Sydney, Australia.
