On My Way Home – A New Song

Immigrant – A. Einstein

“Is Anybody Listening?” continues to develop and evolve. Looking at the issues that we all face as a people going forward, we decided to explore the issue of immigration. What better way to do this than to put myself into the shoes of one actually going through the experience? Though this lyric is of my imagination, it comes from a deep research into 5 or 6 heartbreaking stories of modern day immigrants that I found exploring the Internet.

The song itself is a tour de force soaring and heartfelt performance sung by one man who represents so many experiences.

I’ve enjoyed getting to know him.

On My Way Home

Music and Lyrics by Peter Link

Enter a man, either Middle Eastern or North African, dressed in an expensive subtly pinstriped suit, white dress shirt, no tie. He’s elegant and from all manner looks to have been a most successful business man, however his suit is filthy, perhaps torn, his shirt has been on his back for days and is dirty and stained, and a rough stubble completes his unshaven presence.

Man

Look at this face

Look at these dirty clothes

Look at these worn out shoes

Ah yes, I’m one of those

Just look at this face

Look at these filthy clothes

Look at these worn out shoes

 

I come to you by land, by sea

On foot, I come

By raft, I come

A refugee

I seek your asylum

A cup of your kindness

I come from a place of nothing but blindness

 

I run for my life

A flight into exile

A fugitive from the heart of darkness

My lot in life, yes, a refugee

My future, so far, unknown

I live in a chaos that spans the world

 

I look to find my family

I search to find the man I used to be

 

I know so well this road of desperation

I carry what little hope that’s left

In my frail imagination

 

And I carry my past life

In this pack up on my back

I carry my past life

In a sack

 

With all that I’ve worked for

Gone

All that I’ve fought for

Gone

And all that I’ve lived for

Gone

 

Here am I

A man of no place

Lost out here in space

But on my way home

 

Look at these hands

So sad what this life can bring

Look at these wasted hands

These hands that have built such things

 

And look in this heart

This heart of a worthwhile man

Look at this broken heart

 

I offer you a man of dignity

A fruitful life I’ve lived

But now, a refugee

I seek your asylum

I seek your compliance

I beg you renounce your thoughts of defiance

 

What I’ve left behind …

A life of such promise

A family with its long traditions

But along the way, yes, I’ve let them go

My future, so far, unknown

To live now in peace is my only need

 

Each night before I sleep I ask

What wrong I must have done that brought me here

 

I cannot find the answer to this question

I carry this damning pain of guilt

Like a rancorous obsession

 

And so I run from my past life

Yeah, from one to the next

Confused and disheartened

So perplexed …

 

And all that I’ve loved now

Gone

And all of my dreams now

Gone

My life as I knew it

Gone

 

Here am I

A man of no place

Lost out here in space

But on my way home

{Shouts}

Afghanistan

Somalia

Iraq

Sudan

 

I come to you, a man

Trying to stay alive

Trying my best to survive

While I’m on my way home

I’m goin’ home

Lookin’ for a new home

Yes I’m on my way home

 

Yeah I’m goin’ home

I’m goin’ home

Ooh I’m goin’ home

Aaaaahhhhh

I’m goin’ home