Crossing the River

Poetry

political cartoon

Don’t look away,
heart full of violets,
heart full of violence,
the river swells with rage.

Don’t look away,
a mother’s tears,
a wife’s heartbreak,
become one and same.

Don’t look away,
a father’s embrace,
a desperate escape,
bodies facedown by the mudbank.

Don’t look away,
held in sloshing waves
like the heads of babes
cupped in filthy cradled hands.

Don’t look away,
this moment should scar,
a burning coal
plucked from a fire.

Don’t look away,
the dead don’t disappear
when we close our eyes,
they just wait.