I have not tried to see
Through the eyes of a refugee

I am aware of them
Here and there
And in between
But I have not seen
Through their eyes
I have not measured
I have not weighed
The worlds they leave
Nor the worlds they imagine
Across the sea

I know one of them
Through a friend
When her journey ended
She said she started off
In a wave
Of many hopeful souls

She has now arrived
In her new world
Has a husband
And a child
And a house
And a new tongue to talk in

Though introduced
We never met
Her wounded way
From there to here
Was flooded in tears
An inundation

An escape
An emigration
Of desperation
Manipulation
By a gauntlet of men
A bartering of copulation
Then,
Immigration

“The rest died
Only I survived”
She said

Sean Hunt  Jan 2 2017