Poem by Margaret, a BRWR committee member and volunteer.
Accepted for ‘The Poetry of Worcestershire’ anthology.
Please read, then read again:
Fled from distant lands
Quietly we’ve settled here in Worcestershire.
Unrecognised, unknown,
Head-scarfed, long-robed, strange in the rain
Welcomed to your villages and homes.
Will you listen while we learn your tongue?
Speak of our families in far-flung lands?
We clutch their ghosts in mobile phones
Close to our eyes, our ears, our hearts.
Hear how our homes were bombed,
Our farmland burnt, our people shot.
Life has so changed.
And now in peace we want to work,
To welcome you into our homes,
Drink coffee, talk of our new hopes!
Margaret Evans