LIFE

Every life matters

Every life matters like your heartbeat,

Like your mother and father, your child, your siblings, your wife, like your husband

Refugee lives matter

My people did not choose to come to your country

I do not choose to stay in your country

My home has been raided

Instead of the birds chirping on the trees, the cats meowing at the verandah, the cows mowing on the grazing ground as the goats and sheep bleat at the edge of the compound

It is gunshots that race in the air, bomb blasts that leave one deaf

The sight of blood, of the dead, is what we have left to see

It leaves me dizzy

I dream to see beautiful flowers being kissed by the bees

Will I ever have this spectacular sight again?

Our children are pale with hunger and grief

No mother, no father

We long to see our children play and laugh on the compound

I want to touch my children’s rosy cheeks again, not the bones their faces have become

I want to see life in my child’s eyes when I look into them

The air hangs with death,

I crave to feel the wind blow in my face and not get shot by the strong smell of blood, rotting flesh and carcass

I want to hear the wind fiercely kiss the trees as they meet

We need our dignity back

Every morning and evening

Every day, i long to go back home

I do not want to stay in your home, it is not my wish

I have a home, a home i cannot stay in

I look forward to that day when the guns will be thrown into the water

And the birds will fill up our sky again

The breeze clear and the air filled with flower scents

I am a refugee, I am human

When you cut through my skin, I will bleed

When you insult me, deny me the right to live a normal life, I get hurt

I hurt so bad I wish the grounds open up and swallow me alongside my children

I get broken just like you

Embrace humanity

Treat refugees like they matter because we do

By  AYENYO Joanita