Je Suis Un Refugié

This work is dedicated to Paddie, and to all the grass-roots volunteers from around the world responding to humanitarian need in the face of state resistance in northern Europe.

Je Suis Un Refugié

Je suis un refugié...

Dispossessed by choice in the face

 of materialistic meaninglessness.

A restless wanderer upon the Earth,

Disenfranchised from my self at birth.

A wooden spoon in my mouth my essential crime,

A sense of frustration. A sense of wrongness,

Of not belonging here or there

In this place or this time.

Je suis un refugié...

In my own homeland. In my own life. 

In my own skin.

Je suis un refugié...

Fleeing endlessly from a class war my class

Cannot win.

The abuses of the rulers who claim to serve our good,

Leave so many of us stranded for doing what we should,

Hearts that come together under portentous skies,

Cry silent tears of sadness as they struggle with the whys.

So I come here to help you and you see who and what I am,

Je suis un refugié... 

just doing what he can. 

My smile to you is for life in all its wondrous guise,

For hearts that kindle flames of hope,

Before that fire dies.

"Do you know?" the Voice Within enquires 

"do you realize

how rare

 in time and space

is this air

You breathe?

How beautiful this place?"

So I dig within my Heart for gratitude and joy

but...

...Je suis un refugié...

And have been so since a boy.