What would you take
If abruptly displaced?
Try to keep dry
In plastic zip lock bags?
What would you pack
In your life on your back?
How heavy would it be to carry?
Would there be time for sentimentality?
First step snaps
A wedding day
Grandma as she fades away
You can’t take it all
As flames lick walls
So, something sensible?
Would you save
A compass
First Aid
Enough food for the days
Of walking ahead
Into unknown
Leaving your home
Did you know
That you’d be joining
117 million
That’s
One in sixty nine humans
Globally
Who have been “forcibly”
Moved
By conflict
Persecution
Human rights violation
I don’t know a lot about gambling
But those odds make it
Very close
Very real
Very likely
It can happen at some point
To any of us
In our lifetime
I said -
One
In
Sixty
Nine
One person in every
Church congregation
Family reunion
Local pub
Or social club
It seems arrogant
To ignore the stats
To believe that
It might not happen
To me
To you
As the world
Burns
Bursts at the seams
Bleeds
With people seeking asylum
A dream of
Somewhere to be free
From danger
I wonder if
When the bombs fall
For them
Folk will remember when
They posted and protested
Painted flags
Screamed
As others arrived
With lives in little wet bags
How will they feel when
Something sinister
Or Mother Nature
Suddenly
Smashes their sense
Of security
Of Country
When that’s their only identity
I wonder if they’ll desperately pack
Laptops
Brushes
Paint pots
To carry on
The campaign
As they hit the road
With their kids in tow
Run
To become
What they
Rallied against
Will there be room for
Regret in their
Red knotted handkerchief
On the end of their cane?
When they reach a border
Will they try to explain
That now they understand
Show empty hands
With nothing left to lose
Beg -
“we need water, food, please, could we please take refuge”
Will they too be greeted
By hot red faces
Feel the smack of
“Send them back!”
I hope they might be met
With some kindness
Some open mindedness
And I understand
How they feel under siege
See the change in
Their communities
But is the answer to burn
Them down?
Wreck the town
At the demand
Of a trillionaire
Does he care?
About lives in places
He’s never heard of
Because when it’s all
Stripped away
Structures of society
Erased
We are all one
Lost and roaming race
Simply seeking
Sanctuary
Safe from hate
A place to be
So, friends
Please
Give some consideration
Some reflection
In preparation
Before it’s too late
What choices will you make
And when your time comes -
What will you take?
This composition is published as part of our Refugee: Poems of Courage collection, presented in collaboration with Poems Not Bombs, part of the Forest Poets collective.
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