Lessons from a bird feeder
By Ruth
I see the birds from my window eating the food from the bird feeder
being happy and free
Different types of birds are coming to eat together.
They are from different areas, places and countries and are free to move around
as there aren’t any borders in a bird's world.
All types and colours of birds eat together as a group.
They don't migrate by themselves; they work together as a team.
If there is a baby bird in the nest, everyone helps
to make sure that it is fed and nurtured.
It is not just done alone by the mum and dad.
Birds never fly alone just as humans cannot walk alone.
One bird starts singing to attract the others
and all the other birds join in and start singing.
Birds don't treat each other as foreigners,
they don't fly alone; they welcome everyone so they don't feel alone.
As I listen to that one bird singing
it reminds me of my first few days
being in a new country and in a new town,
trying to make new friends,
scared and alone,
trying to attract the attention of others
to help you feel less alone.
As I watch the birds from my own lockdown window
I wonder when we will learn to live in graceful harmony the way they do.
For birds freedom seems so natural but for people who migrate nothing feels natural.
Finding Home
By Ruth
Home is a place where you feel welcomed, secure and safe. It is a place where you are surrounded by family or other people who are not your birth family but have become family to you wherever in the world you are.
Circumstances in a person's life help to determine what home is. Sometimes you end up leaving a good home and end up in a bad home or vice versa and these experiences help you define what home is and what home means to you.
A home is a place where you can fulfil your dreams. Maybe you were homeless and on the streets or staying with friends and you managed to get help and move to a place where you now feel settled and secure and are able to work towards achieving your goals. Home is the first door you walk through to start learning life skills.
Home is not always just a building. Home is what you can bring with you. Home is how you feel inside. Your traditions, your culture, your food, your language, your beliefs and customs. Home holds that special aroma of your favourite home cooked food that you search to find wherever you go.
Lots of people are fleeing their home countries because of war, famine, torture and conflict. They are fleeing to another country where they should feel safe and to a place which they should be able to call home. Instead of feeling safe, they are made to feel unwelcome and the door to home is closed in front of them. Instead of welcoming them, they are left to walk alone. They have been walking alone for so long, now is the time to join together and take the footsteps to never being alone again.
Audio Versions
Artist Bio
“I am Ruth. I am currently living in Hampshire. I enjoy cooking, gardening, reading, biking, going for walks and writing.”