“Smuggling gangs have repeatedly sawed through new sections of President Trump’s border wall…by using power tools…that [retail] at hardware stores for as little as $100…The saws can slice through one of the barrier’s steel-and-concrete bollards in minutes…” [1]

We can never atone for the billions
spent on dark dreams
sawed through with ease,

(Build that wall!)

for people die at the border of language
and action

(It can’t happen here)

and a placard is not a voice: we were
silent.

(Silence is betrayal)

At times the promise matters more than
its fulfillment,

(Cooler heads will prevail)

but the dead are dead now:
So what if the murder went wrong?

(The arc of history is long)

Their slogans were as easy to print
as ours;

(A yard-sign cannot save the world)

Now we know how easily walls
come down if pushed:

This is what Democracy looks like!

[1] Miroff, Nick. “Smugglers Are Sawing through New Sections of Trump’s Border Wall.” The Washington Post, 2 Nov. 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/smugglers-are-sawing-through-new-sections-of-trumps-border-wall/2019/11/01/25bf8ce0-fa72-11e9-ac8c-8eced29ca6ef_story.html