Refugee Blues by W. H. Auden - Read by poet Arthur L Wood

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My poetry collections 'Poems for Susan' (2020) 'Scarlet Land' (2021) and 'Lysander (2022) are available from my shop: ko-fi.com/arthurlwood/shop
Refugee Blues by W. H. Auden - Read by poet Arthur L Wood
Say this city has ten million souls,
Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes:
Yet there's no place for us, my dear, yet there's no place for us.
Once we had a country and we thought it fair,
Look in the atlas and you'll find it there:
We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now.
In the village churchyard there grows an old yew,
Every spring it blossoms anew:
Old passports can't do that, my dear, old passports can't do that.
The consul banged the table and said,
"If you've got no passport you're officially dead":
But we are still alive, my dear, but we are still alive.
Went to a committee; they offered me a chair;
Asked me politely to return next year:
But where shall we go to-day, my dear, but where shall we go to-day?
Came to a public meeting; the speaker got up and said;
"If we let them in, they will steal our daily bread":
He was talking of you and me, my dear, he was talking of you and me.
Thought I heard the thunder rumbling in the sky;
It was Hitler over Europe, saying, "They must die":
O we were in his mind, my dear, O we were in his mind.
Saw a poodle in a jacket fastened with a pin,
Saw a door opened and a cat let in:
But they weren't German Jews, my dear, but they weren't German Jews.
Went down the harbour and stood upon the quay,
Saw the fish swimming as if they were free:
Only ten feet away, my dear, only ten feet away.
Walked through a wood, saw the birds in the trees;
They had no politicians and sang at their ease:
They weren't the human race, my dear, they weren't the human race.
Dreamed I saw a building with a thousand floors,
A thousand windows and a thousand doors:
Not one of them was ours, my dear, not one of them was ours.
Stood on a great plain in the falling snow;
Ten thousand soldiers marched to and fro:
Looking for you and me, my dear, looking for you and me.
#WHAuden #Auden #ArthurLWood #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #PoetryReading #Literature

[@geraldinehughes4490]

The searing heat of W.H. Auden. BOOM, out the mighty truth. Thank you Mr. Wood, poetry is my medicine and life. The Bards live on through you and around you and your work and your lovely recitations. It pleases me to have crossed paths with you. Peace & Love, Geraldine

[@rosiejack9069]

Oh my! What a wonderful piece. So apt and motivating. Thank you my dear thank you.

[@juliewatson9368]

Wow so powerful. thank you.

[@ArthurLWood]

Thank you to all of my Patreon supporters. Please considerer supporting me. www.patreon.com/ArthurLWood My poetry collections 'Poems for Susan' (2020) 'Scarlet Land' (2021) 'Lysander (2022), and 'The Lysander Pamphlet (2022) are available from my shop: ko-fi.com/arthurlwood/shop

[@floriandiazpesantes573]

The human beings think of themselves as the superior beings but they’re making a mess of the planet and a hell of their own life. How far more wise are the fishes and the birds.