JRS refugee friend performs poetry: “This encourages me to write more poems and songs!”

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JRS refugee friend performs poetry: “This encourages me to write more poems and songs!”

We share EE's poem 'Our Heart's Desire'

09 September 2021

JRS refugee friend performs poetry: “This encourages me to write more poems and songs!”

It’s always a pleasure to celebrate the creative talents of JRS’s refugee friends. This week, one refugee friend of JRS was invited to perform at the Listen to the World Open Mic evening, at St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace. These open mic nights are a place where themes of home, belonging and community meet through the musical talents of migrants, refugees and local artists.

EE is a refugee friend of JRS who has taken part in several refugee activities such as the Open Writing Space and the Creative Arts Space. She showcased her artwork and performed her poem ‘Our Heart’s Desire’ and to a live audience and people who tuned in virtually on zoom. The poem takes the form of partly spoken word, and partly song. EE reflected on the experience:

“I felt really happy especially when the people inside the room tried to sing with me even the Arabic phrases. This encourages me to write more poems and songs with mixed language Arabic and English!”

We’re so grateful to EE for sharing her talents with us and many others, and we hope the words of her poem inspire you too!

 

Our Heart’s Desire

poem by EE

Your heart and my heart over there

My heart and your heart over here

Kalbok wa kalby honak

Kalby wa kalbok Hona

 

We hug each other

As a blossom  flowers in the tree

Positive energy beats together

Are we all in the same boat?

Are we nine hearts?

six hearts?

or three?

Your heart and my heart over there

My heart and your heart over here

Kalbok wa kalby honak

Kalby wa kalbok Hona

 

We are all connected to a heart

Our longing hearts beat to see our family again

Your heart pulses for your loved ones

Aches

long-longing

through different seasons

 

Your heart and my heart over there

My heart and your heart over here

Kalbok wa kalby honak

Kalby wa kalbok Hona

 

Whether the sea is enraged

Or calm

We are together

What brings us together?

Could be Life

writing, singing, eating, painting, travelling, visiting, working, playing,  migrating

Could be anything

But it is our energetic heart

That sails us to our heart’s desire

 

Your heart and my heart over there

My heart and your heart over here

Kalbok wa kalby honak

Kalby wa kalbok Hona

 


View more of EE’s art work and support our services to refugee friends by buying a Refugee Gift today; all are illustrated by the talented EE!

[All News]

 

Jesuit Refugee Service UK
The Hurtado Jesuit Centre
2 Chandler Street, London E1W 2QT

020 7488 7310
uk@jrs.net

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