he said death ain’t that bad but dying was quite complicated found myself and family in one of those no man lands between two nations we had left horror only to find that horror had followed our footsteps winter’s frigid hands took our first child while the second died of that new virus well that’s what we suspected since no one was testing nor for that matter considering us suppose it didn’t help that she hadn’t eaten much that last week my wife the elders said died of a broken heart such things are hard to prove but having such losses and being seen as subhuman may add some validity to their belief as for me i drowned crossing the border my body was swept out to sea no need for a burial in another unmarked grave so you see being dead ain’t all that bad but dying well that was complicated
don’t matter which good book you read quran bible or whatever spiritual star chart you follow the charge to all adults is to protect children from moral and physical harm don’t say nothing about only the white ones so i suspect brown black and all the colors in between are included yet everyday i read about how children are victimized in wars or how so-called civilized nations caged children like dogs along the border and at birth how children of color die more frequently than their white counterparts oh there’s far too many homeless and hungry children to count perhaps our leaders share the notion that children of color are just useless eaters as i recall that was the same dogma that the nazis subscribed to wonder where the new mass graves for children will be
after all the campaign promises are made and dollars have exchanged hands then we will bury the dead after they who have been vilified at walls for childish hopes of freedom then we will bury the dead after your sons and daughters are lost in wars that buy the gifts for the rich then we will bury the dead after earth expels a toxic breath burning the lungs of all saving none then we will bury the dead after you are homeless in your own land begging to protect your rights and family then we will bury the dead tho after nightmare awakenings you’ll see that one new grave is for you then we will bury the dead
wrapped in such bright foil and moving you might wonder whose christmas gifts these are shall i tell you these are for despair small government orphaned children nestled all snug in their thermal blankets on cold border floors while visions of their parents dance in their heads as they face another day of dread
parole board meets agrees to release a murderer a second chance at life for good behavior it’s been twenty years or more since incarceration no second life for victim no resurrection but that’s not the conflict the president politicos and corporate execs who are responsible for thousands of deaths as part of their job are rewarded for increasing the profit margin at whatever human cost they are not incarcerated that’s the conflict
standing in a line outside the old town free clinic was the brown bag prophet who said i’m here to get my yearly flu shot don’t want to join the 61 thousand that died last year in the states guess i’m luckier than some folks like those children detained at our southern border seems us customs and border protection have decided not to give influenza vaccine to migrant children in their care that should free up some bucks for the lump’s wall