Looking at a Refugee

Abhijit Sarmah

I.
In a camp of over a million refugees,
the only unfamiliar face is
his mother’s.

II.
The raven scratches the ground,
but the refugee has no land
to bury himself in.

III.
Every time the old refugee
tells a joke
it is his laugh that is
funnier than the joke.

IV.
It was not too hungry
for summer, yet
not too cold for prayers.
The refugee kneeled
and was gone.

 

Abhijit SarmahAbhijit Sarmah is a Masters in English student at the University of Dibrugarh, Assam, in India.  He wrote a chapbook, The Voice Under Silence, in 2016.