I BECAME A REFUGEE

I am a person

I definitely am.

No matter what you say

I have a right to be.

However, you did not see me that way.

So, I ran,

And became a refugee

I am not just a person.

I am a woman too.

I have the right to be me

And to live in dignified equality.

However, that’s not how you saw me

And I could not live as a non-entity,

So, I ran,

And became a refugee.

Without a country and without a home.

I have lost my friends and family.

I am depressed and desperately alone.

Abused and harassed by your enmity.

I am not a piece of meat, nor State property

But sadly, that is just how you did see me.

So, I ran,

And became a refugee.

Oh, countrymen of mine,

Do what you can, in time

To free our country

From the hostility and tyranny

Raging in the darkness of the night,

Ominously descending upon us

In the violent bigotry and narrow-mindedness

Of those intent on extinguishing our light.

We must not retreat from what is right, my friends,

Nor surrender our hopes before our journey ends.

We fortify our strength when we earnestly seek

Justice and freedom, for both the strong and weak.