For Valeria and Oscar
Dreaming
of more than ten dollars a day.
Denied
one of the three slots allotted at the consulate for 300 seeking asylum.
Deciding
to first carry your daughter across the river, then go back for your wife.
Devastated
when your two-year-old follows you back into the water.
Desperate,
grabbing for your child, reaching her but losing your footing and being wrested downstream.
Dragged
close, tucking her in your shirt to keep her from drifting away in the current.
Dangling,
Draped
her arm around your neck, clutching close and tight in those last moments as the dream
Drowned.
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You capture the sadness of such a plight, that doesn’t come to fruition, very well. Good job!