He Comes From A Different Culture Poem by Francis Duggan

He comes from a different culture the tall dark one with such a great smile
And he finds it so hard to settle here so far from the banks of the Nile
He cannot speak the English language the tongue of this Southern Land
And that he feels he is an outsider ought not be hard to understand.

Tall and lean he looks very athletic and like a runner quite light on his feet
But he is not known as a sportsman and he never was an athlete
A young man in his early twenties and so gentle in his own quiet way
He speaks just a few words of English and two of those words are 'good day'

War and famine ravage his Homeland and for him 'twas not a safe place
And he fled just like many others to live far from his clan and race
To smile to him comes rather easily and he seems untainted by guile
But in his dark eyes there's a longing for the distant banks of the Nile.

My sympathies with the poor fellow he seems such an honorable bloke
He came to this Country a pauper financially dependant and broke
From his tribe to a refugee camp and life for him downhill all of the way
One hopes for him a better future though in that he doesn't have a say.

In this City his life is so different nostalgia is such a strange thing
Amongst his tribe and his family he felt happy and good memories of the past to him cling
Back home everybody was special and here he's just one more refugee
To smile to him it may come easy but the sadness in his eyes one see.

He comes from a different culture and of this culture not much he knows
And here he must feel an outsider but one might say that's life I suppose
He is such an honorable fellow yet how sad his life for him must be
And life is not meant to be easy for any poor Stateless Refugee.