some thoughts on the current debate over immigration
© Steven E. Cutts, 2018
a Studio C recording, January 2019
I wish I could throw the door wide open and welcome you inside;
A long and fright’ning journey’s brought you here.
All you seek’s a life that’s better than the one you left behind
For you and all of those that you hold dear.
I’m not sure I could have braved all the dangers you have faced,
In my mind you have earned the chance to settle in this place.
If it were simply up to me . . . but, it’s complicated.
You are not the first to stand there staring through the door;
Some of my kin stood in that spot not so long before.
I know we said we’d lift a lamp to a sanctuary home;
We have our poetry about the tired and poor.
I am afraid that you have heard what some folks say:
That we should lock this door and that you should go away.
Now, if it were simply up to me . . . but, it’s complicated.
For what it’s worth: this home of mine is not everything it seems;
I can show you broken promises, I can show you broken dreams,
Still, if it were simply up to me . . . If it were simply up to me . . . but, it’s complicated.
It’s complicated.