“Refugee”

When did the word refugee

Lose its meaning?

When did we start to see

the bounds of its definition and

the letters begin to bleed?

Lines blur and there ceases to be

A distinction between refugee,

the proper word for those forced to flee.

Those who had to abandon their homes

Searching for a place to rest their bones

And economic immigrants seeking a better life

To send back money to parents, children husband or wife

Instead, all are known as migrants 

It rolls off the tongue of ignorance.

How disappointed they must be

When they arrive, what they see

Is the Disunited Kingdom

The unwelcoming place we have become

Through this abject metamorphosis, we have regressed

Five years ago you wouldn't have guessed

We'd become so very hostile,

hypocritically relying on them all the while

We don't acknowledge their contribution

Instead, this sick society baselessly

seeks against the scapegoat; retribution.

Even the word immigrant has been reduced 

Through an ugly transformation, the word produced 

has animal migration at its root.

I feel such shame

I can only hope we change again

Words matter, we must protect them 

I'll keep them alive 

Keep writing them with this pen