THE ASYLUM-SEEKERS

Bearing your loss
however you can
to our fearful ports
        NO PLACE
    my abasement
Your cry in my hearing
your children your children
the salt waste
these depths these deaths
    my abasement
Your feet in my shallows
your hands at my shore
my guns at your face
inquisition
      NO PLACE
Your plea in my ear
your need in my sight
rights and denial
undoing of lives
      NO PLACE
My guards in your path
your grief in my soul
the pledges broken
time passing time passing
      my abasement

Judith Rodriguez
Terror: Poems 2002.