Butterflies spilled forth from her mouth,
Like the promises I’d only dreamt to ever desire,
          And just as heavily, entered the chains,
          Bags to promise scars atop soil, long walks.

So come the tilling, the cull and the harvest
When merchants meet maidens, ***** hands wave
          And having seen the second fracture,
          At least I could share in the shouldering.

But the butterflies, eventually to crisp and husk
Under sun, stench and eventual ends prior Eden,
          Dull blades and edges broken
          Like the backs of those that believed before;

She’d be granted her wings, her winds and pomp,
Like the nights in Matamoros had promised –
          Leaving me the luggage and at the least,
          A scent of what love could mean.

Oscar Martínez and Angie Valeria,
A father and daughter from El Salvador,
Came to our border seeking asylum.
Their voices will not be heard anymore

Turned away at the border the father,
Mother, and daughter left in despair.
Desperation makes us take risks
Whenever our future is up in the air.

The Rio Grande near Matamoros
Proved not to be the family's friend.
Swept away in the rushing current,
Father and daughter both met their end.

Farewell to Oscar and Angie Valeria.
Let's hope that their deaths will not be in vain.
Urgency should call us to action:
Our treatment of others should be more humane.

Helpless, the frantic mother stood watching,
Feeling the pain that life can deliver.
The bodies of her two loved ones were found
In the murky waters near the bank of the river.

Who's passing blame or pointing a finger?
Who's going to turn a blind eye to sorrow?
How many more asylum seekers
Will lose their lives today or tomorrow?

Farewell to Oscar and Angie Valeria.
Let's hope that their deaths will not be in vain.
Urgency should call us to action:
Our treatment of others should be more humane.

-by Bob B (6-27-19)

Your clothes give way
To the current and river stone

Until every trace
Of who you ever were is gone

And the things of earth they make their claim
That the things of heaven may do the same

                          - Bruce Springsteen