EIGHT BY TEN

           When first tibetan refugees came to India they were given an 8 by 10 feet room per family. This poem is written by a mother who lived in that eight by ten feet room.

Eight by ten in any unit, big or small is a rectangle

Eight by ten with four walls and a roof, is a room

Eight by ten measures in feet in any country is small

Eight by ten for a refugee is quite often the only room

Eight by ten with a bed and stove is not just a room

Eight by ten with a mother and an altar is a home,

With birth and death, joy and tears,

Like any home, anywhere

A place to share, a place to of love,

The only eight by ten.