Refugees Poem by Elizabeth Padillo Olesen

Once there lived a man, woman and child
They tilled the land, cooked their food
built their school and built their house.
The birds and rivers sang as they danced,
and they went to bed when the sun went down.

Once there lived a man with his gun
He thought the land, the food, the school
and the house of other man, woman and child
could be his with his gun
He could not sleep and so he started
shooting at the birds, the rivers and the stars
He dreamed that all the land and all in it
could be his with his gun.

Then the man, the woman and the child
in their own land, their house and their farm
could not sleep on their bed, and could not
listen anymore to the singing of the birds
and rivers, for they had to leave, to leave
in much hurry, that there was nothing
at all they could carry.

They walked and walked through the miles
without sandals on their feet,
searched for food and rested on the shades of the trees
Their hearts began to dance in great delight
as they, from a distance, could see
some signs of life, of crowded communities,
whom they thought could have bid them in
for food, water and bed.
But all the while, they were called strangers
and must stay out of the borders.

Until now the man, the woman, and the child
keep on wandering from one land to another
waiting to be invited to come in
in a border when they can build
their house, a school for their child
where they can cook their food,
dig a well and farm a piece of land.