Lamentations

"Every human being bears within him or her the image of God, which confers upon us a dignity higher than any passport or immigration status." (Bishop Mark Seitz, Bishop of El Paso)

This was inspired by reading a piece by Rachel Barenblatt (https://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com/blog/2019/09/rosh-hashanah-come-whoever-you-are.html) in which looks at the racism and xenophobia which plagues discussions about migration, and the culture of fear and dehumanisation which goes with it. There is also a powerful piece on contemporary lamentations, where she mixes the words of the book of Lamentations with the words of modern refugees in camps (https://yourbayit.org/lamentations-then-and-now/).

We have to see the refugees fleeing a war zone not as some "tidal wave of immigrants" which reduces them to numbers. We have to put ourselves in their shoes, or bare feet, walk in their footsteps, experience their pain, and even if we cannot do this directly, we must exercise our imaginations to see what it would be like if we were the migrants, and how we would feel, and why we would act the way we do.

While countries have a duty to ensure that immigration is orderly and safe, this responsibility can never serve as a pretext to build walls and shut the door to migrants and refugees.

Lamentations

Escape sound and fury, the falling shell
Gunfire, carnage, corpses on streets
The hunger pangs, no food for eats
My children, we will escape this hell

Decay and damp, that rotting smell
Caught up in warfare, each day repeats
Escape sound and fury, the falling shell
Gunfire, carnage, corpses on streets

The cold sea faced, the waves and swell
We cannot return, we endure defeats
Bodies washed up, beneath the sheets
Pray let us come, to safely dwell
Escape sound and fury, the falling shell