THE CHILD ON THE BEACH

-


The child washed up on shore
In the same position
That he assumed
When he slept
Beneath the downy plume of a blanket
In the nighttime tranquility of a nursery
Which was regulated
By the barely perceptible
sound of
his little boy in and out breaths

Being only 3
He may have confused the
sand for his crib
And the rolling music of the ocean
For a lullaby
Or the heartbeat of
His favorite bear.

He wore a red shirt
Shorts
And a pair of shoes
That had barely gotten acquainted with
the ground.

His family had been denied exit visas
And their application for asylum in Canada
Was rejected
Even though they had family there

Because that is what
Governments do
In between
Spitefulness
And golf games.

Fearing for their lives
and the atrocities of war
Even though the mother had a mortal fear of
The ocean
The family decided to sail to Greece
Which was a mere 2.5 miles away from the
shores of Turkey

The tickets to freedom cost them $5,860.00
To ride in a flimsy plastic boat
meant for 8.

There were 16 people aboard.

Five minutes into their trip
They capsized.

The life jackets which were provided
Were fake
Because that is what criminals do in a crisis
Especially when there is a buck to be made.
They offer false hope
They lie
They kill without remorse.
They attack the press for writing the truth
And then they blame other people
without claiming any responsibility
as they preen in the mirror
And ask
who is the fairest of them all?

So when the whole world capsizes
like a flimsy plastic boat
And incompetent men
with bad intentions rule
innocents like little Aylan Shenu
that was his name,
Get caught in the crossfire
And never get their life jackets
Or ventilators
Or that invitation to dance at the
wedding of a son
Or a daughter.

Instead, they become part of a graph
Statistics without faces
Numbers without meaning
The contents of a body bag
Stacked on a shelf
in the overcrowded civilization of
a makeshift morgue

Or perhaps they become
A symbol
Like the soldiers at Iwo Jima

One indelible photograph
Whose image sears into our hearts
As a reminder
Of exactly what is at stake








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Must Babies Think?

-
What must babies think, As they wonder why their Push pram rocket ship Which on most days thrusts them Into the universe of the fiery sky ball and chatter filled park Sits mothballed in the corner Staring at the wall like White-haired bench people Who always seem so Sad and forgotten? What must dogs think The Wal Mart greeters of the Animal world Who use the sign language Of the excitable nose and tail To communicate their borderline insane love for anything that moves When they trot out first thing In the morning like they’re in competition at Westminster Only to discover A show of silent concrete? What must jets think Who usually cannibalize people Until their bellies are full When the only in-flight meal Is a flight crew Two pilots And 900 steerage ghosts Who sit Without hope or destiny In the kind of Quiet That follows anyone Who has ever walked Away from a grave? What must birds think The cocky pigeons The Blue-header vireo Or the Y...
Read more

EVERY WORD

-
Image
Every word Which we have the freedom to use Is a boy Or a girl as fresh as a prom corsage in a pine box In a bone white church That sits high atop a field of markers a million Stars of Bethlehem Many of whom will share the name Unknown. Every word Which we have the freedom to use Is someone’s dream Someone’s child Someone’s love Someone’s pain which the wind has carried off the returning flight of dust and seeds to an unimagincally distant place which is reachable solely by the asphyxiating ache of a parent’s prayer. Every word Which we have the freedom to use is as holy and sanctified as the endless death march miles of desiccated battlefields and lost at sea oceans which stand as memorials constant reminders that words are meant for Declarations of love and independence and Constitutions, Anthems and Pledges of Alleigenace and vows and plays and scientists and philosophers and bibles. There is a reason that our very first word and ou...
Read more

IT'S ONLY WORDS

-
Image
Those of us of a certain age of Aquarius remember that tune. For those of you whose taste runs along the lines of K-Pop, it was a big hit released by The Bee Gees in 1968. “It’s only words and words are all I have, to take your heart away.” According to Robin Gibb, “Words reflects a mood.   It was written after an argument.   Barry had been arguing with someone.   Robin had been arguing with someone and happened to be in the same mood.   The arguments were about absolutely nothing. They were just words.   That is what the song is about: words can make you happy or words can make you sad.” 1968 was a hell of a time in America.     The year began with the Tet Offensive in the midst of the Vietnam War, Martin and Bobby were assassinated, cops and protestors clashed in Chicago and even though the Civil Rights Act was passed in April, a particularly strong showing   by segregationist George Wallace   highlighted the strong e...
Read more