Benjamin Zephaniah (1958-2023) is a well known British poet, actor and musician. As he was born to Jamaican parents, he was strongly influenced by the music and poetry of Jamaica. Moreover, Benjamin took poems from the academic world and made it accessible to the general public. His poem 'We Refugees' poignantly explores the theme of displacement, identity crisis and sufferings experienced by refugees worldwide. It is said more than 122 million individuals have been forcibly displaced worldwide as refugees due to the result of persecution, conflict, violence and war. The poem also stresses the need to treat the migration and refugees issues with compassion and benevolence.
All stanzas except two of the poem begin with the personal pronoun 'I' followed by 'come'. This describes the reasons for migration throughout the poem. The poet says as he belonged to a musical place, he sang freely but as that song was not liked by his brothers in his country, he was driven away. Similarly the colour of the skin, the way of one's prayer were the causes for others to be hated and driven away from their countries. Denial of education to girls, floods and hurricanes, mad leaders coming to power, selling openly guns like deadly weapons and cultivating fields after destroying forests are some other reasons for many others to leave their countries and become refugees in other countries. Here Benjamin makes us think about Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan and Myanmar and the like. As all their countries have now become too dangerous to live, they have to leave their countries and so their names will be forgotten soon there. Since they have no countries of their own, they have become lies in foreign countries.
Actually no one is safe in their country. A handshake or a paper signed by the rulers will make anyone a refugee. So, we can all be refugees at anytime. Moreover, if we go deep into the history of humanity, we will find that all have come from somewhere as refugees. So the refugees need not live in fear of the weather or troubles. Similarly, the others who have refugees in their countries should treat them with sympathy and consideration. Thus the poem, 'We Refugees' in free verse, both talks about the displacement and identity crisis of the refugees and takes steps to end discrimination against refugees.
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