"Other"

Naked fear, flowing from

a hurt,

broken place.

Decades of mistreatment.

Raw sacrifice.

Leaving everything.

Everyone.

Only to be “Other”

in a foreign land.

Each day, bitting

your tongue.

Each night, escaping

home.

A fortress

surrounded

in an unfamiliar sea.

Walls fortified

with transgressions.

Silently perpetuating

history’s divides.