Being Refugee Is a Crime

I packed my life into a bag,
and fled the burning night.
But crossing over to your shore
made me a crime in sight.

To ask for safety 
To run away from fear
To stand outside your locked-up gate
and shed a quiet tear is a crime.

If I am hungry,
If I look for a job,
If I just sit and watch the sky,
I’m seen as part of a mob,
It’s a crime.

To need a doctor,
To want my child to read,
To ask for water, food, or clothes,
Is treated like a greed,
is a crime.

I did not choose to lose my home,
or watch my world fall down.
Yet I am labeled as a threat
in every single town.

You see a shadow, not a man,
a number on a page.
When being a refugee is a crime,
the whole world is a cage.

©️ Mohammed Arshad Amin