She said “I Love You”
I responded to give her a lifeline
Because parents just don’t know
How many times the nurturing lacked
Creates a chasm in the soul of child self
She goes to sleep
Hoping someone will call again
Where she can pretend that life is capable of being better
Than what feels like total abandonment
No family lives near enough for her to touch
Reasons for ACS to get a wake up call
About separation of children from healthy family members
And what is healthy in a city without housing
In a country that puts its citizens last
Because livable wages nonexistent global
Poverty makes mothers walk away from children
In hopes that one day they will return to pick them up
Take them to that better place
Hope that none has abused them in the interim
After 2 ½ years of separation they will say I love you to a scarecrow
For they define their lives by counting absent people
Regretting that they have to be the adult in their lives
That immigration grasp at illusive dream of money makes it better
That someday America will fix it with way too many hours of work
No place for aliens to rest their heads long enough to gain reprieve for children abroad
It is hard to know her time is running out
Where people will help without demanding something
She is short and skillful and writes pretty words of how this life curves
Do you want to know what happened to me today, she said in angelic hum
It has been a bad day and the strain feels like she is losing her merciless mind.
Tell me what you look like, I have forgotten the faces of family members
Everyone has changed and their faces unrecognizable
She calls after the phone card minutes ran out
Three times she let me know she did not want me to go
Tomorrow she will wake to repeat Jamaica’s ignorance
Children, Children – yes mamma
Where have you been to - Grand pupa
What did he give you - Bun and cheese
Where is my share - up in the air
How shall I get it - climb on a broken chair
Suppose I fall - I do not care
Who taught you that bad manners - The dog
Who is the the dog - YOU
I hope that we will be together soon
I hope that we will be together soon
Mommy can you make it real soon
Momma can you make it real real soon
Patrice C. Queen
I responded to give her a lifeline
Because parents just don’t know
How many times the nurturing lacked
Creates a chasm in the soul of child self
She goes to sleep
Hoping someone will call again
Where she can pretend that life is capable of being better
Than what feels like total abandonment
No family lives near enough for her to touch
Reasons for ACS to get a wake up call
About separation of children from healthy family members
And what is healthy in a city without housing
In a country that puts its citizens last
Because livable wages nonexistent global
Poverty makes mothers walk away from children
In hopes that one day they will return to pick them up
Take them to that better place
Hope that none has abused them in the interim
After 2 ½ years of separation they will say I love you to a scarecrow
For they define their lives by counting absent people
Regretting that they have to be the adult in their lives
That immigration grasp at illusive dream of money makes it better
That someday America will fix it with way too many hours of work
No place for aliens to rest their heads long enough to gain reprieve for children abroad
It is hard to know her time is running out
Where people will help without demanding something
She is short and skillful and writes pretty words of how this life curves
Do you want to know what happened to me today, she said in angelic hum
It has been a bad day and the strain feels like she is losing her merciless mind.
Tell me what you look like, I have forgotten the faces of family members
Everyone has changed and their faces unrecognizable
She calls after the phone card minutes ran out
Three times she let me know she did not want me to go
Tomorrow she will wake to repeat Jamaica’s ignorance
Children, Children – yes mamma
Where have you been to - Grand pupa
What did he give you - Bun and cheese
Where is my share - up in the air
How shall I get it - climb on a broken chair
Suppose I fall - I do not care
Who taught you that bad manners - The dog
Who is the the dog - YOU
I hope that we will be together soon
I hope that we will be together soon
Mommy can you make it real soon
Momma can you make it real real soon
Patrice C. Queen