in the still of the night,
amid complete strangers in uniform
keeping her away from her Mommy,
she is crying shriek wails
her face, trauma-distorted
in its meant-to-be beautiful glow
a mere 2-year-old child
innocence lost
purity, no more
a cold-blooded picture
speaks on her behalf
language . . .
what is it good for
when pain is inflicted
on purity, on the core love
between a mother and her baby?
losing it . . .
the tongue and all
the heart aches yet once again
and hurts on and on and on
where has compassion gone?
(c) hülya n. yılmaz, 4.14.2019
*This poem came to me while I was reading the news about the 2-year old unnamed girl whose trauma has been captured in a moment after her forced separation from her parents at a US border. Her plight’s visual caption has apparently granted the photographer “a prestigious World Press Photo of the Year” recognition . . .
[Photo Credit: PBS News Hour]
hülyaswritings 
The words of the line “In the still of the night” coincidentally also happens to be the name and lyrics of a beautiful old song, now long a standard, written by the American Cole Porter.
A far cry from the picture you show, and your poem of ‘her tears’ that so clearly depicts the utter cruelty of Trump’s ideas of what the United States, not at all as a country the world once admired and envied. Surely not the US of A, of World War Two who had then reached out to help its fellow world citizens, under duress from those tyrants of said era. Trump seems to be well on his way to wrongly blacken the reputation of the kind and generous people from the Franklin D Roosevelt days, they were once known to be, thus so up to what is now the current idea of what freedom has become.
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Dear Jean-Jacques, all I seem to be able to do is to extend my heartfelt thanks to you for listening to me and for hearing me. “[U]tter cruelty of Trump’s ideas” is a phrase that accompanies me day in, day out. As for your song reference, I truly appreciate the insight.
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