Bursts lighting the night
Children splashing
Families grilling
Grandmothers fanning
A gentle 4th, freedom for most
Simple celebrations
A parade, picnics
The Roadtrip
Humble gratitude
For the woman in the harbor
Children in cages
Nuclear “chicken”
Arrogance
Citizenship
Arrests, civil disobedience
Resistance – patriotism –
Lovers lean in
Catch the light
Seeing it in the other
Children in wonder
Glow sticks
I’m a big girl now
I sit in peace on a border
My white skin not a question for entrance
What is the purpose of your trip?
Glancing at our passports
We cross, without scrutiny, except the papers for the dog
Will those children
Who sit in cages
Calling for mama, papa
Feel the sweet safety of a simple picnic?
Know the love of their neighbors
Or even know their neighbors?
Or even have neighbors?
My God, why hast though forsaken me?
They don’t have the words to ask
Is there someone, Someone to pull them from the cages?
To hand them to their mothers
To feel the holy peace of love
Thy love surround them through the night
The work of freedom begins when the picnic is over,
Or the picnic – the nourishment of freedom – begins when we all share the meal
The bombs bursting in air
are lights of hope
Not flashlights shining into the cage
When we look into the sky, do we see their faces?
When they look into for hope, do they see ours?
By Laurie Scott, an incoming MDiv student. She lives in Connecticut with her partner, Rev. Sara Smith.
