Human ears
In the poem entitled "The Colonel’’ the narrator has dinner at the house of an influential politician. Towards the end of the dinner, the colonel shows the narrator a bag of severed ears. The ears are used here as a symbol for all the people who refused to listen to recalls of the horrible things and human rights abuses taking place in the world.
The boatman
In the poem entitled "The Boatman’’ the narrator mentions how the city where she lived was the home to the sword of Allah, meaning that the city was a blessed one because it hosted such a holy sword. Thus, the sword of Allah is used in the poem as a symbol for the safety the city provided and to suggest how the people felt at ease inside.
Death and destruction
One of the common motifs found in the poem is that of death and destruction. The first poem it appears in is "The Colonel’’ where the narrator mentions a pile of severed ears and then in the poem "The Boatman’’ where the narrator describes the journey taken by refugees trying to escape the war. During their passage, many died and they also found bodies in the water, sometimes children, who died in an attempt to leave their country.
There is no place to go
One of the common motifs in the poem entitled "The boatman’’ is the idea that the refugees had nowhere to go. The government in their home country tried to make them leave but the narrator transmits the idea that there was no way they could leave the country because no one was willing to receive them in their own country.
Symbol for violence
In the poem entitled "The Visitor’’, the narrator talks about the man who wants to reach his wife. The narrator also mentions a scythe cutting through the fields and preventing the man from seeing his wife. The scythe is used here as a symbol for the violence that kept many people and families apart.
