The Table
Written collaboratively by members of Stories of Hope and Home together with guests from SCM (Student Christian Movement) in March 2022.
Based on the original by Edip Cansever
A man filled with good wishes
A family filled with the love of life
A traveller filled with wondering
A newcomer filled with a sense of belonging
And a migrant filled with humanity
Converge on an open table
He puts his shopping bags on the table
A full water bottle, an almost empty wallet
She puts down her keys, phone, handbag
A photo of her family, and a pen without its lid
He puts the boiled kettle, a bottle of milk and a bowl full of sugar
A teaspoon, a half-drunk cup of tea, and a fully-charged powerbank
They put down the sound of children chatting on the bus
Of cars going over humps in the road
The sound of eating biscuits with my friends
And of a baby gurgling in the background
They put down early morning birdsong
And the automated voice of a phone translator
He puts down his gut feelings
His confidence and his tenacity
She puts down her joy, her infectious laughter
They put down love
So much love
He carefully puts down his heartbeat
They put down
Their long-term resolutions
Overlaid with ambiguity and uncertainty
Their dreams of a place to call home
And of a society treating everyone fairly
He puts there his hope of living peacefully
And politicians who might do the right thing
He puts down his desire to stand out from the crowd
And she her desire to fit in
She puts down kindness
He puts down coming home to cook
They put down the challenges of learning English
The Nile is the longest river in the world
She puts it on the table
Together with the more than five hundred languages spoken in Nigeria
The number 11 bus route is 26 miles long
He puts each mile on the table
He puts there his home city of snow-capped mountains
They put there Birmingham, a city with immigrants from all over the world
She puts down her confidence and her insecurity
He his sadness as well as his happiness
They put down a warm welcome and a cold system
They put down their childhoods, their present and their future
They put down their good friends here
And their deepest desires
They put down their hearts
And all of their humanity
They stand by the table in strength and in unity
They fill it with good things
The table is a source of food for the future
The table expands to carry the weight
The table waits,
Still willing to have more added
Knowing more will be.
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