They came down here

In the Calais jungle to escape

Their own jungle back home

In the Kurdish Iraq or Sudan.

The refugees risked lives

Across the dangerous seas

And landed in the beckoning France.

The dispossessed lived in tents and dreamed of

Better existence in a foreign land.

Things changed this week as

The French authorities came down to

Evict and demolish these primitive camps.

The refugees protested but to no avail

They stood no chance against the state.

The migrants had entered another hell

In that piece of cultured, democratic France

Home to the Revolution of 1789

Now—reluctant to host children of ethnic strife and violence

How things get changed over intervening time!

Dreams, not shelters, got demolished by the riot police

And refugees are again made homeless in civilized lands!

STOP!

Be humane!

Cries the spirit of enlightened France.