A cardboard community of the displaced,
a refugee camp of the dispossessed,
expendable exiles, cast out and abased,
to this we have all of us acquiesced.

What possible sin could each one commit,
what manner of law have they transgressed
that this is the punishment we permit?
What hateful heresy have they professed?

Throwaway women, disposable men,
huddled in doorways, the hungry and flawed.
Unspeakable stories tell where they've been,
The hundreds of miles their worn shoes have trod.

Filth that mats hair and seeps into the skin,
is this what we show to the eye of God?