Benjamin Zephaniah - We Refugees

I come from a musical place <br />Where they shoot me for my song <br />And my brother has been tortured <br />By my brother in my land. <br /> <br />I come from a beautiful place <br />Where they hate my shade of skin <br />They don't like the way I pray <br />And they ban free poetry. <br /> <br />I come from a beautiful place <br />Where girls cannot go to school <br />There you are told what to believe <br />And even young boys must grow beards. <br /> <br />I come from a great old forest <br />I think it is now a field <br />And the people I once knew <br />Are not there now. <br /> <br />We can all be refugees <br />Nobody is safe, <br />All it takes is a mad leader <br />Or no rain to bring forth food, <br />We can all be refugees <br />We can all be told to go, <br />We can be hated by someone <br />For being someone. <br /> <br />I come from a beautiful place <br />Where the valley floods each year <br />And each year the hurricane tells us <br />That we must keep moving on. <br /> <br />I come from an ancient place <br />All my family were born there <br />And I would like to go there <br />But I really want to live. <br /> <br />I come from a sunny, sandy place <br />Where tourists go to darken skin <br />And dealers like to sell guns there <br />I just can't tell you what's the price. <br /> <br />I am told I have no country now <br />I am told I am a lie <br />I am told that modern history books <br />May forget my name. <br /> <br />We can all be refugees <br />Sometimes it only takes a day, <br />Sometimes it only takes a handshake <br />Or a paper that is signed. <br />We all came from refugees <br />Nobody simply just appeared, <br />Nobody's here without a struggle, <br />And why should we live in fear <br />Of the weather or the troubles? <br />We all came here from somewhere.<br /><br />Benjamin Zephaniah<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/we-refugees/