The Day the War Came – a poem about unaccompanied child refugees

Children’s author Nicola Davies has written this poem in response to the government’s decision not to allow lone refugee children a safe haven in the UK

A few weeks ago I heard a story about a child turning up at a school near a refugee camp and being turned away because there was no chair for her. She came back the next day with a broken chair and asked again. I can’t remember where I heard the story but it’s melded with all the other things I’ve heard over the last few months about refugee families and lone children.

The ideas and images have been running in my blood like a fever. But this week, with the government’s response to children utterly alone in the world (when the Conservative party voted against the UK accepting 3000 unaccompanied child refugees from Syria) I couldn’t ignore the story burning in my veins. All other work had to be put aside. So rough and ready as it is, here is my response to their policy:

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