Nepal Got The Virus

Nepal becomes the first country in Asia Pacific to vaccinate
 refugees against Covid-19 — unhcr.org
Courtesy: UNHCR

You harnessed the magnitude

Of a earthquake that shook

The soul of your nation

To its living foundations,

Multiplied it on the richter scale

And shocked the world.

With open arms and great grace

You wrapped safety 'round the displaced

Thru the warmth

Of your embrace.

You rocked their world

And made game

Of beating the virus.

They were refugees

Who've had their share of filigrees

On a 360 degrees

Of tortured rejection.

But you got them vaccinated

From the coronavirus,

Nepal got refugees vaccinated!

A people of no nation.

I've heard it said on occasion;

Love is a virus.

Now you're making us

Desirous

Coveting your space.

You made your case

Now refugees exhale

In the land of exile

Cause Nepal excelled

In service to mankind.

Nepal has got the virus.

Uh uh not that virus.

The real virus,

The greatest force in the world.

That's love

The most powerful infection,

Nepal got unconditional love.

Akpan

Covid-Related

Courtesy: UNHCR

Darkness falls across the land,

Shooting straight from the East;

From the pockets of Wuhan,

A plague spat from the belly of the beast

A chip of the Apocalypse

Surrounds you in its mist

Then punch you in the gut

With a iron fist

That throws your windpipe into lock. 🔒 

The Reaper awaits with his scythe,

His footsteps alien and lithe. 

You gotta be Spiderman

Or you's a dead man:

Wear a mask, 😷

Wash your hands,

And hog your distance.

Last year, there wasn't no Christmas 🎄

It would be a shame if Santa Claus

Was down with the Corona. 

If we all could share love

On the same level we caught the virus:

With a hug, 🤗

Thro a cough,

In a simple touch,

We'd stare wars

Down and call its bluff. 

We'll tear down walls

By a sneeze n' a stomp. 

But even tho we y'all separated

We still Covid-related. 

We can do this

Heart to heart ❤️we'll knock this.

Roll out the vaccines for everybody,

People of all nationalities

Let's include the refugees,

Together, we'll erase this disease. 

Akpan

I Belong

Photo Courtesy: UNHCR
For all the beautiful people in those countries
working tirelessly to end statelessness.
On behalf of all refugees,
You're always welcome in all of our hearts.
Thank you!

Who did I tell

When ghosts of yesterday rang my bell? 

Who raised me up from hell?

Who broke me from my shell?

Who stripped me clean of the past

That hugged my bones like second skin?

Who ripped to shreds my robe of rags

And made me their very own next of kin?

Who but you wrapped me in your warmth?

When you made me believe that even I belong.

Akpan

One Piece Of Paper

With one piece of paper
I'll rewrite this stateless caper
No more sneaking through borders
I'll be a brand new legal immigrant
Just one piece of paper
Can overhaul the inequality wager.

Akpan

Visual Cancer

Source: twinkl.co.uk

For all displaced persons. 

I see dead people

Still breathing but like pimple

On the face of the earth

Cause we erased principle.

Like living substance of death,

They are situational zombies.

We call ‘em refugees

They go ahead of us

Straddling our vain conceit

To report our bloodlust

How we downgrade human dignity

And upgrade hateful wars.

I see displaced persons

Burnt twigs snatched from the fire

Our yet-to-be-learned lessons

Feels like I’m preaching to the choir.

If this situation is critical

Response ought to be reciprocal.

Akpan

Zombie Heaven

If love should pass us by

I won’t blink an eye,

I won’t pretend to cry.

If hope should prove a lie,

I would feign a smile

And pretend to wonder why.

If good should run us down

I won’t make a sound,

And give a run around.

If hate should pull a crowd,

I won’t run my mouth,

My feeling won’t head down south.

If life should deal hard knocks

I won’t give a bad turn;

I won’t ask for potluck.

If courage should quit and die

I’ll just play my cards right

And I’ll return like for like.

Akpan

The Long Hike

Courtesy: UNHCR (@refugees)/Ivor Prickett
This poem was originally written for the refugee woman who trekked long
distance to be with her man. I couldn't find her picture online so I used this one instead. 😄

My traveling shoes fit me fine.

My feet are kitted like an Olympic athlete’s

I’m all equipped to eat up the miles

No fuss about distance nuthin’ can stop me.

I can only pray my feet don’t fail me now

The cloud’s moving its bowels by the sound

But I’m all covered by passion blind to distraction.

Taking it all in my stride screaming bring it on!

Will I survive will I rise or multiply the lies?

How do I flee slow virus that trusses my mind?

Love, with open arms, waits on the other side of here

His whisper is a special delivery of love to my ears;

The memory of his face is a balm for my blistered feet,

The longing for his embrace is a shade from the heat.

I must go where love goes lovingly mark his footsteps.

Find solace in the warmness of his footprints before

The chill of the nighttime tones it down with its breath.

I’m gon’ keep on pushing until I get what I want

Even tho the road is rough I will not turn away.

If I have to crawl on bended knees I won’t hesitate.

Akpan

Refugee Nation

Yolande Mabika member of the first Team Refugees
displaying the Refugee Olympic Team flag

Sometimes I wish I was a refugee

I wish I can dip my toe in strange soil,

Claim the skies and build a world without boundaries.

In a strange land to raise redemption’s song

Hauled on the buzz of people who’ve lost everything

Yet invested with the greatest of gifts, I’ll rise

Above the fears and doubts and corruption of beauty.

And I’d relish the right of giving one lifetime twice.

My very own second shot at making first impression,

I’ll devastate captivity and make an art of destruction.

I’ve waded a hundred rivers of hurt, fears and blood but

The yet uncharted rivers will carve pinions for my cross.

Raison d'être tossed in war opens up to freedom’s porch

I could almost engage it cause it’s breaking with the dawn.

All the virtues I’d have been busting loose in a fresh me.

Sometimes I wish I was a refugee.

Akpan

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Not Happy 2 Fake It

Anjelina Lohalith
Courtesy: @Refugees

This is the seventh in a poetry series created from lyrics of musical classics.

The piece you are about to read begins with the seventh line of the song “Easy” by Lionel Richie.

I’m not happy when I try to fake it

In fact I’m sad when I try to fake it

What’s the point if I’ll just break it

Best of time’s when I have to take it

On my own terms is how I’ll make it

I’m doing fine and you can’t shake it

I’m off the charts n’ you can’t rate it

So please let me be or I will regret it

Eat my cake n have it cause I bake it

Opposition crumbles cause I flake it

Unleash the dragon but don’t wake it

I’m not happy when I try to fake it

Akpan

Who They Want

Courtesy: UNHCR/Dominic Nahr

This is the seventh in a poetry series created from lyrics of musical classics.

The piece you are about to read begins with the seventh line of the song “Easy” by Lionel Richie.

Everybody wants me to be who they want me to be.

But I’m just swingin’ and making merry being myself.

They talk such trash around me it’s hard to imagine

Not feeling put away like a bird stuck in its cage cell

But I defined myself for myself no doubt cause I am

This close to decoding an overdrive translation of me,

They spit every answer in the form of a questionnaire

It’s complicated to escape but ama stand and stay free,

And stay true to the original plan it’s the only way I see

Myself crossing that river leaving behind this negativity,

Until I pull all the plugs I’ll never really dig the reason

Everybody wants me to be who they want me to be.

Akpan

Paid

Rose Lokonyen
Courtesy: @Refugees

This is the sixth in a poetry series created from lyrics of musical classics.

The piece you are about to read begins with the sixth line of the song “Easy” by Lionel Richie.

I paid my dues to make it

Thing is situation is yet to get with it

And there’s no way of going around it.

Can’t believe I’m doing this over again

It’s the craziest place for me to exhale.

Impossible to think I went thro all that

Only to have to bring nightmares back,

I’m incarcerated in a distorted déjà vu

I could wish the world was mine to rule,

But where is the fun if I am a deadbeat?

A different stroke of fate what do I do?

I paid my dues to make it.

Akpan

All I Can

Courtesy: UNHCR/Frederic Noy

This is the third in a series of poetry created from lyrics of musical classics.

The piece you are about to read begins with the third line of the song 

“Easy” by Lionel Richie.

Seems to me girl, you know I done all I can

I battled lions, raised my game to change the program.

Now my life is rearranged I aint drawing you a diagram

Things won’t stay the same so blame the pain.

I’m breaking loose from traits that got my brain in a cage

It’s not that easy but I’m trading my ache for gain.

It’s this life I chose to live; it’s the calling I gatto give,

Sticking around’s like battling a legion I gatto breathe-

Freedom baby, is of the essence and I’m gon’ get it anyway

I can, I can’t give up that spells suicide and I don’t play.

It’s my only way of taking the last stand

Seems to me girl, you know I done all I can.

Akpan

Leaving You

Courtesy: UNHCR/Achilleas Zavallis

This is the second in a series of poetry created from lyrics of musical classics.

The piece you are about to read begins with the second line of the song

“Easy” by Lionel Richie.

Girl, I’m leaving you tomorrow.

Give your best kiss to mama tell her I said so

It’s cold out there on the routes I’ll plow

But I aint much good to you if I hung around

Think of me as your own human anchor;

That person you let go when you need him most.

I may never find my way back home again

I don’t even have a roadmap for the journey I make,

I make no promises I only hope you’ll understand

Someday when you ripen into a full-blown woman

I’m sorry baby but there’s something you must know;

Girl, I’m leaving you tomorrow.

Akpan

Can't Stand the Pain

Courtesy: UNHCR/Andre McConnell

This is the first of a series of poetry created from lyrics of musical classics.

The piece you are about to read begins with the first line of the song “Easy”

by Lionel Richie. In the next six or seven poems I’m going to pick subsequent

lines of that great song to jump-start each new piece.

I know it sounds funny but I just can’t stand the pain.

The sun’s pitched at 12 o’ clock but the storm won’t abate

It’s rage all over; I’m several miles into this insanity

When all hell spills over who’s gon’ set my soul free?

I was halfway there before they blew the final whistle

Not that I was late in coming; my effort wasn’t useful.

I crossed the river so many times I lost count already.

How much longer before my dreams hit the cemetery?

I wonder what it takes to last in this fading existence,

If anything besides pain can lay claim to consistence

If there’s no point of reference, aint no reason to aim.

I know it sounds funny but I just can’t stand the pain.

Akpan