“Make up your mind,” Moab says. “Render a decision. Make your shadow like night— at high noon. Hide the fugitives, do not betray the refugees.
Isaiah 16:3
Most of us came to this country from somewhere else, whether in search of a better life or against our will. In a sense, most of us are refugees of one sort or another. Make room for the refugee.
Refugees
He came from a strange land
He spoke a strange tongue
Trading names at an island
For dreams of the sun
Just enough to sustain him
Til he’d send for his wife
My grandfather came here
To start a new life
Chorus:
They call me a refugee
And I guess that it’s true
I come seeking shelter
Safety and food
Hoping for kindness
I come much as you
You say it’s your country
Now it’s my country too
Many years later
In the dead of the night
Through the Mexican border
Some others took flight
There’s no turning back now
To death’s certain arms
Coming they know not
To welcome or harm
Chorus
Drifting in small boats
God knows for how long
We are the lucky
Others capsized and gone
Sailing towards freedom
If we’re taken in
To the heart of the country
Where our journey begins
Chorus
Sometimes in the evening
When the sound carries far
Listening to silence
Looking up at the stars
Feeling so different
Wondering why it must be
Even in my own homeland
I’m a refugee
Chorus
© Willie Sordillo
God of refuge, help me open my arms to all whom seek your shelter, whatever their place of origin and wherever our paths may cross. May I remember that it may one day be me who needs shelter and the open arms of a stranger. May I remember that it is you who lives in the stranger I welcome.