Suppose they were Jews,
The babies torn from their mothers arms
At the border’s edge, never to
Embrace each other again.
Suppose they were white
And pink-cheeked Jewish boys and girls
Stuffed by the dozen into bland, white
Vans in the Texas sun.
Suppose the cages ,
Meant for dogs were filled with Jews,
Not immigrants with dark skin,
Speaking in strange tongues.
Suppose the children with dark skin
Were packed in boats,
Two-by-two-by-two thousand,
And shipped out to sea, destinations unknown.
Suppose those humans,
Shunned as outcasts
Sought to land, to live
Someplace safe, and were denied.
Suppose their ships or vans
Or caravans of terrified faces
Were forced back to the homes they fled
With only their lives.
Suppose the places they fled
Grabbed them, and locked them up in cages,
Starving, beating and killing them,
Mother and child, separated forever.
Suppose they were Jews…