Elisa, five,
dreams of peace,
that the world will stop making war
she no longer wants to lie awake every night.
If she could make the law
they would stop their daily firing.
She would help her mother
whose tears soak her T-shirt each night.
Where is her father, you would like to know?
For her, that was always far away.
She wants to conquer grief, fear and hunger,
but she always kept silent about all of that.
Betty, nine,
has it all.
Her fortune was to be born to a perfect family.
Her parent were able to give her everything,
clothes, dolls and, in their view, a perfect life.
She could have all that she desired,
but her wish for affection and love was always denied.
Each day her parents work long into the night,
and her constant companion is Hannes the dog.
Her pain rose higher and higher inside her
but she always kept silent about all of that.
Anna, ten,
wants most of all else to become an astronaut
to see the world from above
to get closer to her mother in heaven.
Simply to leave and disappear, as in a dream,
into the hazy blue depths, into space.
She would like to float on clouds, simply live free
and surrender herself to weightlessness.
She would like to chat to the tooth fairy,
and in-between zoom to the man in the moon,
to fly on unicorns,
but she always kept silent about all of that.