A Thatched House

In refugee camps around the world, thousands of
people called refugees are packed in makeshift
homes like the one in the photo. Haunted by
the shadows of their ordeal, they can barely
 escape their past. They dream only of
returning safely to a peaceful home.

Do you know who she is

The heck if I know who she is

But if I know

What a refugee is

I think I'd pretend to know

Why she is

The way she is

She achieved quite the feat,

Forced to flee on her two feet

Feet that she wished grew teeth

So it would bite back at rocks

That dug and cut

Into her soles drawing blood

Frail and brave

At the same time

Determined yet afraid

Look into her eyes

And see the too many lives

She has witnessed wasted

On the streets

Crudely gutted

Like preys of a wild beast

She got stories to tell

Paragraphs from the corridors

Of hell

She knows where the fork

In the road leads

She knows which

Choice misleads

That life's a bitch

She knows nobody

Got your back

Like the sack

Wracking your aching back

Do I know her?

I've often heard of her

But only she

Can trace the scars,

Make the details shrill

Only she can strip down

The shell of darkness in the

Thatched house to denounce

The shadows in her heart

Shadows that chase her dreams

To broad day realities

I can pour some oil

Try to soothe the hurt

And then wait

Give her the right

To hesitate

The right

To keep the faith

The right

To feel and be right.

Akpan