A LITERARY JOURNAL PUBLISHING STANDOUT TEEN WRITERS AGES 13-19
REFUGEE
by AFRAH SHEKH (India)
Issue 1.3 December 2019
the first missile tears through the skin;
skinning the embers of
a quenched country
alive
alive?
the mosques wail incomprehensibly;
god is detached, god is being called
to god oh god, save us, save us, save us,
we have long since gone past
the ironic intricacies surrounding
our places of worship.
rubble and ash and soot; a second skin,
dissonance and graveyard wombs,
how does one die before living?
how does one pay for sins they do not
commit?
how does one accuse the invisible?
pogroms rupture the news headlines;
our children’s bones strung across
border lines are too trivial for your
apathy,
do you want a family too?
do you want a family too?
terror, terror, terror,
what of the terrorists terrorizing
the “terrorists?”
or is your humanity selective?
is wanting to live such a
despicable thing?
refuge. refuge.
refugee.
refugee.
refugee.
Afrah Shekh, 18, has grown up in the Middle East with the casualty count in the headlines nearly every week. She hopes this small piece of writing can help make the tiniest change somewhere.