This is a guided tour through music and arts coming from various Christian worship traditions around the world, plus a few other things of related interest such as multicultural musics.
refugees (a top-to-bottom-to-top poem)
Today, the 20th of June, 2017 marks World Refugee Day. The refugee crisis is one of the biggest problems facing the world right now. According to the UNHCR, there are more than 50 million people across the globe who have had to flee their homes.
Aware that “refugees” is a topic that polarises opinions, here’s a poem to walk with. The author, Brian Bilston, was able to creatively take one extreme approach and then play it back on itself to come up with a far more humane position.
Read it slowly, out loud. Then read it one verse at a time from bottom to top.
REFUGEES
They have no need of our help
So do not tell me
These haggard faces could belong to you or me
Should life have dealt a different hand
We need to see them for who they really are
Chancers and scroungers
Layabouts and loungers
With bombs up their sleeves
Cut-throats and thieves
They are not
Welcome here
We should make them
Go back to where they came from
They cannot
Share our food
Share our homes
Share our countries
Instead let us
Build a wall to keep them out
It is not okay to say
These are people just like us
A place should only belong to those who are born there
Do not be so stupid to think that
The world can be looked at another way
(now read from bottom to top)
Poem: Refugees by Brian Bilston
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This is a repost of a blog post by Fr. Philip Chircop, originally published on his blog at
http://www.philipchircop.com/post/162041042532/world-refugee-day-today-the-20th-of-june-2017
He frequently posts superb meditations and all sorts of art, and I encourage you to sign up for his blog posts and/or follow him on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/chircop.philip
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‘Kurdish Refugees’ by MotionAge Designs, 2014.
https://fineartamerica.com/featured/10-kurdish-refugees-motionage-designs.html