Artist: Blanca F. Tomé, Flyers for Falastin

What does it mean to be
a refugee?
To always feel
something missing,
a piece of one’s soul
left behind.

A stranger,
a newborn
torn from its mother’s arms,
longing only
to return to her warmth.

Like the strangeness 

in this morning air,
the people feel like 
they are not mine,
the streets, the trees, the sky—
nothing feels like home.

I am now a stranger,
a fragile bridge
between who I was
and who I must become,
weathered, trembling 
beneath my steps,
growing weaker each day
as longing grows 
stronger.

A stranger
will always miss home,
feeling the weight
of holding on.
My only choice:
to look forward,
carrying all the pain,
looking into people’s eyes
and knowing
I will always be 

a stranger.