Analysis of To be a refugee



To be a refugee
Means you walk with a mute dignity
And because the touch has a memory, you can no longer make another one,
No sea can reveal to you the joy of its flowing and its every wave is shackled with corpses and identities of drowned people, no land will welcome your shy steps.
To be a refugee  
You have to wear a stainless smile in front of their serrated gaze.
You have to get rid of your ancient history,
Your mother's prayer for your safety, which no longer works
The wisdom of your ancestors, which they left to you before they disappeared into their graves.
To be like me,  
You have to peel off your skin, pull out your tongue in order to get along with the crowds that are waiting for any slight movement from you to finish you off.
Above all you have to be very sane in the streets that know nothing but where madness erupts,
And like swimming in a river of blood, you will remain stained until the end.
Faleeha Hassan


Scheme AabcAdaefaghij
Poetic Form
Metre 110100 111101100 00101101001111010101 111011101111001100111011000100111011110111 110100 111101010111101 111111110100 1101111011101 010111011111011010111 1111 11111111111010110110111101101101111011 0111111101001111011101 0110001011110110101 101
Closest metre Iambic octameter
Characters 942
Words 190
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 53
Words per line (avg) 13
Letters per stanza (avg) 738
Words per stanza (avg) 179
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Written on 2023

Submitted by faleeha_h on April 11, 2023

57 sec read
1

Faleeha Hassan

She is a poet, teacher, editor, writer, and playwriter from Iraq, living now in the USA. She is the first woman to write poetry for children in Iraq. She received a master’s degree in Arabic literature and published (25) books. Her poems have been translated into (20) languages, her poetry book was nominated for Pulitzer Prize in 2018, and her story for PushCaret Prize in 2019. She is the winner of the Women of Excellence Inspiration award from SJ Magazine 2020 winner of the Grand Jury Award (the Sahitto International Award for Literature 2021), One of the Women of Excellence selection committees 2023 The cultural Ambassador - Iraq, USA more…

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