I will go Home,
But where is Home?
Yes, I will Run Away.²
If you ask us where I’m from,
I have to speak with Broken things—³
Before my long Travel, I pack my suitcases, stuff them
With some Sand from our land, some Scent from my
Mother’s kitchen and sounds of Birds in the morning.⁴
What does an Immigrant call it when
They have no home to go back to?⁵
No one puts their Child in a boat—
Unless the water is safer than the land.⁶
Is Migration still possible if there
Is no other land to Arrive in?⁷
Death is the only Border
Crossing still open to all—⁸
Memory has the fragrance of a
Weeping night flower arousing in the
Exile’s blood a need to Sing …⁹
If your borders could talk,
They would tell you the meaning
Of Chasing Home.¹⁰
¹ Mureed Barghouthy tr. L. Jayyusi & Merwin, I Run Toward You
² Richard Wright, Black Boy
³ Pablo Neruda tr. original, There’s No Forgetting
⁴ Mosab Abu Toha, Forever Homeless
⁵ George Abraham, Counter-Terrorism
⁶ Warsan Shire, Home
⁷ José Olivarez, Ars Poetica
⁸ Ken Chen, Pre-Credit Sequence for the Film About the Camp
⁹ Mahmoud Darwish tr. Munir Akash & Carolyn Forché, Mural
¹⁰ Ifeoluwa Ayandele, Chasing Home