It Could Happen

There are people
dispossessed
desperate
& poor.
They are coming
here
soon.

How will we great them?
With abrazos?
Heartfelt hugs?
or
with barbed wire
and bullets?

U.S. troops
stand ready
on the border
weapons ready
to repel boarders.

As if, as if
as if the United States of America
were a ship at sea
and it would flounder,
as if it would sink
if we took in more refugees.

They are coming
those refugees of war and fear.

How will we great them?
Will crowds of U.S. citizens
stand by and cheer as they reach safety?
Will we laugh with joy?
or cower in fear?

Do hate-mongers tell us to fear them?
Does fear tell us they are enemies?
Does fear paralyze us?
or
will we part the barbed wires,
the wires wound fearfully
around our hearts?

It could happen.

Terry Mulcahy has published poems in: Conceptions Southwest, Silver Quill, Scribendi, Medical Muse. Have not tried to publish anything in a very long time since. I retired. I read. I write. I hike. I act. I listen.

 

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