As the media glare is shifting, as the headlines fade from view

Each of us will face the question, how we see and think of you

You have made a leap into the great unknown, and so I’ll try

To imagine just a little what it’s like, to see things through your eyes

From the moment of arrival, in this new and foreign place

A different struggle for survival waits, an unfamiliar space

It may feel at times confusing, word and gesture to decode

Encounters raw and sometimes bruising, on this long and winding road

You may find things hard to fathom, you may find us hard to read

You may feel an aching chasm, may I have eyes to see your need

Before all else, like me you’re human, clothed with strength and dignity

This thought I’ll hold in each encounter, through this lens I’ll seek to see.

(penned in response to the Afghanistan crisis. Addressing an imagined refugee).