The Immigration Office

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Written September 2012

They arrive like Paddington from here and there
Containerised for export in the unwanted goods-yard
Luggage-labelled, hoping someone may care for a bear
Shipped off as slaves without a green card                                     
Like Ugandan Asians made stateless by decree
This freedom-loving asylum seeker
Follows Huguenot and Hungarian refugee
Who fled their country in unceremonious departure.
 
Disposable throw-aways discarded in limbo
With a thousand questions of whys and wherefores
Queuing up in Croydon for Home Office mumbo-jumbo
Feeling they could never belong here because of the laws
Until someone manages a smile and extends a hand,
Offering the warmest of welcomes to a foreign land,