The national poetry competition, hosted at the British Library by the Sanctuary Foundation, aims to help people connect emotionally with the experience of refugees displaced from the homes through war, famine and persecution.
During the day, Year 10 pupil Charlotte Chang got to tour the Library, hear a talk by author, Sita Brahmachari and have the absolute honour of hearing her poem read by Game of Thrones actor Jonathan Pryce.
Our congratulations to Charlotte on her winning poem.
There’s No Place Like Home
I walk the streets alone.
I walked with my father and mother back home.
Watch the children play hopscotch. See!
My heart skips – that used to be me.
Wherever I go, a trail is left behind.
Everyone looks at me as if I’ve committed a crime.
I hurry ‘home’, my head down in shame.
Where do I belong? They can’t even pronounce my name!
Back home the sun shone bright.
On the golden wheat fields, where I flew my kite.
The friendly east wind cooled my cheek,
As I ran home to the embrace of my mother – now an antique.
Cold darkness suffocates as my eyes trail the haunting shadows,
I recall the warm glow of the memories that freely flow.
