REFUGEES

We move with alacrity across

The borders defining us, that contested space between

Your country and mine, refugees confused among

Migrants among refugees pushing forward behind

Multiple war zones and finally diving under-

Ground, defying the gravity pull of the situation not over…..

 

Did you dare think it was over

On your side or mine, between

Your country or mine, under

The explosives and the blaze, among

Refugees and migrants, sprinting from behind

The barricades in flame, and finally free-falling across

 

The free fall zone like bloody leaves dropping  across

Porous borders. ” No fence can keep us out” we chant as we over-

Come walls we refuse to hide behind,

Never mind the hot  breath of the pack expanding the space between

You and me, undermining us, as we move among

Human beings confused and suffocating, not under-

 

Standing the imperative of our own suffering, we move under-

ground and begin to tunnel over-

Land overwhelmed and suffocating , we move as a family among

Your tribe and mine, as we recover the dead and the dragged under,

We try to keep our vision focused between

Your country and mine, as we slip soundlessly across

 

Borders of the killing field across

memory and time, over-

Taking the treacherous space between

Your country and mine, moving deftly among

Babies and old ones’ outstretched arms and and waiting buses under-

Tear gas and razor wire, cold cement and brutal heat we leave behind

 

Stranded territories we fear,  behind

Makeshift barricades constructed across

Our old lives and what we thought we  knew: the under-

Goings  of razed neighborhoods and bombed out buildings , and over

On the opposite side of the city: the other side of town among

Dark figures in a cloud of smoke, we dance between

 

Crazy quilt and chaos crossing endlessly , weaving under

Searchlights carving space between your country and mine, leaving behind

Shredded pamphlets flapping among torn roadmaps we look over……