Blinders on
so we don’t see
the harm that’s done,
the travesty
of children caged
in a foreign land
so afraid and alone
though their cages are crammed
with others who sought
a better life
and wound up here
no hope in sight.

But it’s hard to look
and harder still to see
so we have blinders on
in this “land of the free.”
We are far from brave.
But those kids sure are
while we look away
their young lives are scarred.

Or we look fleetingly,
then wring our hands
and offer some logic
about foreign lands
and rules of law
or scarce resource
or how there must be consequence
of course -
for breaking the law
in the USA.
This country’s ours
not theirs we say.

When these children cry,
we look away.