Funny how a letter can change the meaning of a word.
Refuge means peace to me. Kindness. All the classics. But it also means truth. Protection. Freedom. Life, but also death.
Refugee means hiding, running, screams in silence. Survival at a cost. Searching. Losing. Sight, but not vision. Pain.
So different, so incompatible, yet one is needed for there to be the other.

If we were never refugees, we never had a refuge.

It lands on my head
as I walk in the cold.
However, it soothes me
not like the torture from centuries ago.
no thunder
no lightning
just beautifully treasured white noise.
Nobody around
just me and my thoughts.
My jacket is dripping,
my socks feel freezing,
but I don't care.
Because outside, my problems disappear.
My phone doesn't ring,
or maybe I'm ignoring.
A bird call in the distance
Bits of leaves skittering around.
Time passes unnoticed, 
but only be...