Registering Humans

Mack Hall, HSG
mhall46184@aol.com

Registration

Sad refugees, petitioners, lining the walls

Of grim, poorly-lit cinder-block hallways
With babies and luggage and desperate hope
For a better world than the one they’ve fled.
With papers and permits clutched in their hands
Each in turn approaches tired officials
Seated behind cheap desks beneath pale lights
Approving, disapproving, signing forms,
Pointing out other lines now to be joined.
The formless, faceless crowds shuffle along.
Some huddle in dark corners on the floor
Eating slyly from sad bundles of food
Others huddle conspiratorially
Outside, furtively smoking cigarettes
Their eyes darting about suspiciously
In this place where time is unmeasured, void.
Some stare at old notices on the walls
Unclear about the meanings of the words.
Waiting, waiting, always waiting. For what?
For the scrawled signatures, the seals, the stamps,
Permission to enter the strange new land:

So slowly do the desperate make their way

For this is college registration day.