Sanctuary

Persis Karim

​Here--the place
where we speak their names
in shadows and reflections,
the trace of our belonging,
in this refuge--still living in
threads of memory--even when 
the infection of violence, chaos
of new explosions force us 
to remember the dead, the scared,
the hungry in Aleppo, Baghdad, 
Sana’a, San Francisco, Jerusalem

we carry this prayer on our lips

Hold your baby tight with the faith
that someone will receive you, want
you, want to know the story
of your life, someone's hands
will circle you, someone's heart
will hold you, someone's nation
will welcome you after someone 
else sought your erasure 

we carry this prayer on our lips

In the requiem of light, you will be 
more than a displaced person, 
you will no longer be adrift 
in the open sea where your suitcase
is the raft of your dreams, where
your sacred prayer can float
in the air of magnified hope 
and the cycles of the universe 
cannot stir a flower without
troubling a star, 

Here, where we can be 
one--
whole--
moving in the canopy 
of the human. 
​
​