Refugees Without Camp

By Sai Leng Hsim

Translated from Tai language into English by
Bernice Kholer Johnson

Burmese soldiers advance
They take our animals, take our rice
From our school they take the learning and the light.
They burn our village and steal our minds.
We hear the soldiers’ voices, and we are filled with fear and hate,
And we must run, run, run, run until our legs break,
Refugees without a home, refugees without a camp.

They dress our Buddhas in women’s underwear,
We see our people floating bloated in the river,
We have land but cannot farm in it, forced labour is our lot
“Peace, peace, peace”, they say. Burma says we are at peace
But we are not. We hear gunshots night and day
And we must run, run, run, until our legs break
Refugees without a home, refugees without a camp.

Some Shans live in Thailand , work as servants or as slaves,
Some live in relocation camps, without money, food or hope
Some live in the jungle and hear their dying child’s cries,
Mosquitoes on their limbs and leeches in their eyes
They dig a shallow grave and place the child inside,
And then they run, run, run, until their legs break
Refugees without a home, refugees without a camp