Meditations of a Refugee

I remember the place I used to call home,

Straddled between the two busy streets,

Where the city comes alive

How I loved looking through the windows

At the lush green fields

And the evening revelers that walked past

I remember the sound of my mother's voice,

And the smell of my brothers

I remember my friends

And the patter of my niece's feet

Mine was a full life

Full of joy and hope

The war changed everything

First the shootings

Then the bombs rained down

My city was torn apart

The sun stopped shining

I barely escaped

Now I am here,

Separated from family,

Refugee in a foreign land

I wonder how I survived the sea

Black and terrifying

Its rage swallowed up my friends

I wonder what will happen to me now

"Leech! Go back to your home", they shout at me

I escaped the war

Yet I am seen as scum and without worth

If only they would choose to put themselves in my shoes

Then they would see that I am not a refugee by choice

Maybe then they would build bridges and not walls

I wait for tomorrow

To scale the walls of hate and walk on the bridge of love

I wait for tomorrow,

Maybe here I will find home again