to mourn for a land not mine

a place I’ve never called home

with ways and customs strange

words that never fit my mouth

and not this place alone

but every place I’ve been

not ever mine but a stranger there

and somehow invited in

I grieve for the loss of welcome

the hearth’s warmth once freely shared

none of us are from here

yet we breathe common air

if we hold too fast to fences

turn all to enemies on the other side

we’ll die alone and friendless

with no one even to close our eyes