Lost Child

The child rocks back and forth Shivering in the bleak night of a third-world winter A blanket full of holes Maggots crawling in the bedsheets Her bony limbs contorted ‘round her breast Scant defenders against the onslaught of the wind. You will not hear her crying You will not see her tears Half a world away is easy to ignore But the heart knows What governments and egos and wallets must deny. The snow falls with the relentlessness of Time Claiming the lives of the helpless and abandoned But the death of an innocent Cannot be easily buried in the conscience of Man Choices must be made But who has the courage to touch the suffering? (Previously published in The Oracular Tree, June 2000; Twins, Issue 12,2001)