I am

I am the child in school too hungry to learn                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               With the face as silent and pale as the moon                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    I am the parent having to choose between                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Eating a meal or heating a room 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
I am the man who has tried and tried                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Whose weak heart tells him, he cannot work                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Whose lowly benefits are to be cut some more                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          And all to encourage me not to shirk     
                                                                        
I am the young woman who is so very afraid                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         To go out and exercise in the dark            
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      I am the boy who finds the gates firmly locked                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                When he goes to play football in the park  
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
I am the young man shivering on the flimsy boat                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Crossing the narrow, choppy sea               
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            I am the young woman on Tehran’s dark streets                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Still waiting and waiting and waiting to be free     
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
I am the young woman in the Saudi jail cell                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Trying to keep her dignity and not grow bitter                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  45 years in this filthy prison hell                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           And all for just spending some time on Twitter     
                                                                                                                                                                                                        
I am the curious child in the refugee camp                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Waiting and waiting for a real education    
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             I am the outsider, who doesn’t fit in                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Still waiting to be part of their own nation
I am as human as you or anybody else                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        And when the dogs of oppression begin to bite                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         I have the same warm, red blood as you                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       And I also have exactly the same human rights

Peter Sagar