Among The Refugees

Words & Music: Pat Drummond

dateline: Port Headland, W.A. 16/01/02

Villawood Detention Centre, Sydney - Photo courtesy of Children Out of Dentention

 

This song relates to The Editorial "No Room at The Inn - Christmas Among The Refugees."

In the 50 years that I have lived, worked and prospered in Australia I have watched my nation as it has struggled to deal with its place in the world; it's hopes for its own cultural identity and it's battle to come to terms with its proximity to its Asian and Islamic neighbors.

I have watched as it has struggled to maintain the dream of a tolerant, free and progressive society in the face of it's own historical xenophobia. It has not been easy but it has been, at times, spectacularly successful in that struggle.

This is perhaps why I currently find Australia's appalling response to our recent arrivals ('illegal immigrants'/'refugees'... whichever politically tainted term you prefer), so devastating, disappointing and confusing.

 

Matthew, 1 - 28
The angel came to Joseph late
one night
And said, "You must be gone
gather up your wife and infant son
for you must leave this place
Herod seeks you, death awaits
through Israel's dark and bloodstained gates
to Egypt you must flee"
Jesus was a child when he became a refugee

Chorus: At The Mercy of the stranger
Seeking shelter from the fates
Fleeing certain death and danger
uncertainty awaits
Speak to me, my country
Tell me what you see
Underneath the razor wire
In those same dark and frightened eyes
Tell me do you recognize
Who is that refugee?

The Bible tells us Herod slew
each child below the age of two
years old
to save his dynasty
political expediency
really isn't something new
politicians always do
what their ambitions tell them to
and truth is sacrificed
but shame is all a nation buys
when children pay the price

Bridge: They didn't speak the language
but they prayed God would provide
through the kindness of the stranger
until the day the tyrant king had died
Perhaps sold all they that owned
to pay for their escape
look at your children,
And if you love them
tell me then
which of you would hesitate?

600 children, heaven sent
living in imprisonment
for years
for the crime of being poor
fleeing famine, poverty and war
I hear you say to me
"It's not our responsibility
They came unasked across the sea"
Yes, and so did we.
And if you lived back in Egypt when
that family fled from Herod's men
Would we have imprisoned them
among the refugees?

Chorus: At The Mercy of the stranger
Seeking shelter from the fates
Fleeing certain death and danger
uncertainty awaits
Speak to me, my country
Tell me what you see
Underneath the razor wire
In those same dark and frightened eyes
Tell me do you recognize
Who is that refugee?

 

 

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