Cages

In our silence we give consent to the cruelty put upon others. No nation whose foundation is based on diversity and acceptance should ever be apathetic and indifferent to the child seeking home.

Cages

By

Carlos Lorenzo Estrada 

"Not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by 

offering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human

memory. And in denying their humanity we betray our own."

-American Jewish writer and holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel 

I am haunted by pleading eyes of a child

They cast upon me behind cold steelbars

Seeking comfort and recognition of humanity 

Disillusioned, frail, and devoid of childlike wonder. 

In their eyes I am taken back to Sunday mass

Years past where voice speaks in shroud of white

"Care for the stranger as you would your brother 

For loving the least, you will have loved the greater."

I am haunted by saddened eyes within cages

Small little hands pressed against callous metal

Voices too soft and strained from tears to be heard.

Silent cries yearning for humane embrace.

"When you needed shelter I gave you a home.

And when you were sad I comforted you.

when you were abandoned I took you into my arms."

I am haunted by the faces of children in cages 

the same eyes as a child behind barbed wire at Auschwitz 

The same eyes as a native child on the trail of tears

The same eyes as a child in a Japanese internment camp

The same eyes as a child born into slavery

"Trust not the laws of man for only God knows truth

You shall be judged by the wickedness of your heart

For I am in the leper, in the beggar, in the stranger

And In the child."

I am haunted 

I am haunted 

I am haunted

I am.

Author's Note

Feel free to leave your thoughts and many thanks for taking the time to read this work. I truly appreciate it.

Reviews

[Chris Shaw]

This is heart wrenching and powerful writing Carlos. Children suffer as the result of actions by adults and it is horrendous to think that the ones that need love and nurture most are often at the back of the queue. Will it change? I doubt it. It has always been this was and that is what is so depressing. Thank you for being a voice for little people.

Chris

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you Chris for the kind words. I feel we are at inflection point in history. Much like the artists voices in the 60s we should follow in their footsteps and seek to point out our failures and injustice as a society. Art is needed now more than ever. We must strive to be better for the children and generations after. Thank you so much.

[Chris Shaw]

Always welcome Carlos.

[Dylan Macadham]

Haunting, wrenching, reminding us it's up to each of us to assist the innocent and weakest among us.
A poignant message, so well written!
Dylan

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you Dylan for your comment on this piece. This is a simple reminder that we have far to go as a society in order to reach our better humanity. Thank you so much again.

[Brian D. Roth]

Wow, extremely powerful. Both the underlying message and metaphors concerning the traps of society our children fall into all too often albeit physical, emotional or psychological or all of them at once, could not be more woefully or accurately expressed throughout. Great job ! I truly felt this one.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you Brian for your thoughts on this poem. It was a difficult write because it really calls upon humanity to internalize and ask of themselves where is our empathy for the children of the world. If we can't not see ourselves in every child's eyes then we truly are doomed as a species. Thank you so much again for the kind review. I truly appreciate it.

[Dave Brown]

It never seems to end
Although darkness exists everywhere, I continually thank whoever for being born where I was

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you Dave for your thoughts on this poem. You are absolutely right it really never seems to end. We here in the US fail to live up to many of the ideas that define our nation. We are so divided as a country with much of it stemming from hatred. If we fail to get our house in order we fail not only the principles of democracy but future generations as well. Shame on us for these self inflicted wounds. Thank you again my friend.

[MCS]

I too am haunted by what I’m seeing, hearing daily in the evening news.
Sadly, our species seldom learns from its past.
Thank you for this eloquent piece of writing.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you for your thoughts and comment I truly appreciate it. As a supposedly civilized society we sure act far from civil toward one another. I join you in that haunted feeling as well every time I watch the news. I can't believe this is the legacy we leave behind to our children. It is shameful and absolutely tragic. We are better than this and we have to be. Thank you again for taking the time to leave your thoughts it's greatly appreciated.

[Miss Sharon]

Wow. What a wonderful and poignant write this is my friend. ("Care for the stranger as you would your brother For loving the least, you will have loved the greater.") So very true. Thank you for these words. ~Sharon

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you Sharon for your thoughts on this poem. Though I am agnostic now I still retain the better aspirations of virtue and ethics taught from faith. I would always listen intently to the sermons and take to heart the lessons and parables that were presented. I was even an alter boy and seriously considered becoming a priest. I have heard hundreds of sermons in my life each uniquely beautiful in their own right but words are meaningless without action to prove them. It is easy to claim righteousness but much more difficult to live it. Faith asks of us to be better, not hate better. I question the faith of those that rail against things man made, yet fail to live by their God's law. Under no circumstances should faith ever preach hate for when it encourages such vile iniquity it becomes a cult of evil intent. Thank you again for your kind words I truly appreciate it.

[.]

It's a passionate write about the children who were detained due to various circumstances or caged due to political upheavals.But they should be treated with utmost care and love as innocence can't be guilty! When we treat everyone with love and empathy then the world become so peaceful .

Thank you so much for this beautiful poem

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you so much for the comment my friend. I agree with every word you have said. It still boggles the mind that in this day and age we have not learned to be empathetic and civil toward one another as human beings. Despite our advancement in technology, knowledge, ingenuity on a global level we continue to have the same hate from biblical times. Thousands of years have passed and we still have failed to abolish hatred. It does not bode well for our future as a species. I still cling to hope in the possibility of a better world where every single child is treated with dignity and love equally.

[Shelley Warner]

Wow, that was exquisite. Such deep meaning. Yes, as Jesus said, "In as much as you have done it to the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me." I hope that the children who were detained and separated from their parents at the border will be reunited and cared for.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you Shelley for your comment on this poem as well as empathetic heart for the children who suffer. This poem demanded a compassionate as well as passionate voice to speak for this issue. I wish I could have bled more for these words. It was my intention to call upon both the humanity and morality within this work. A moral man having to ask and demand of his faith and society to search for their better angels. To recall sermons of his youth and belief that speak of our greatest virtues as human beings. To hear the voice of a higher power reminding him of this sacred covenant. Seeing that humanity is falling short and being haunted by this. With the final statement calling back to the old testament proclamation of "I am". We must demand of ourselves to be better because it's the only way we will ever change the world for the children.

[Shelley Warner]

Yes, I'm glad you're giving voice to this issue. I like that you call upon your faith as part of your voice.

[Betty Hermelee]

Thank you Carlos for writing about inhumanity the world over; This poem has such heartfelt words for bringing back memories of how children suffered through the years, from slavery, to the Holocaust, to the Indians,to the Mexicans and others crossing our border. If you just look into the eyes of suffering, you will see through to their pain. And yet we let them suffer, and die without grace. The expressive eyes tell all and such inhumanity shall never rise again. Unfortunately it is still around in places all over the world, children are not animals and should not be behind steel rails nor locked up in cages. They want what should be rightly given to to them.
Wow, a strong poem!
Best, B.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you Betty for your kind thoughts on this piece. It is my hope that these words speak to the humanity of the readers heart. For to deny the suffering of these children of the world we truly betray our own humanity as well as our better angels. And what is left of us from this act of indifference? I shudder to think. The righteous can not claim to be so without the acts to prove so. The words of this poem cast light upon our darkest of moment. Love is devoid of color, it is pure and true and in the eyes of every child of the world which we are all responsible for. I weep for them all Betty as I should. As we all should. Because within them is hope as well as our better humanity.

[Betty Hermelee]

and understanding of the terrible problem!
You're very welcome Carlos
Best,
B.

[John the Baptist]

The sufferings of children in the great upheavals of our times are the most painful to look upon. They are the most vulnerable of all, because they have no power to avoid the catastrophes that have befallen them. Wars and other causes of displacement continue, and there seems to be no way of helping the smallest victims. Only a change in human values might make a difference. Good luck with that.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you John for your thoughts on this piece. I so agree with your assessment but I'm an eternal optimist and dreamer. I believe in much of humanity. When moved to action we are capable of extraordinary things. We can do better, and we can be better. Everyday I read the incredible art of this community that encompasses the whole world. Voices from so many different places speaking with the same heart as I do. It leaves me in awe. And for the most part reflects our better humanity. Because we share this amazing passion for language and words. And the hope they bring as well as the humanity they reveal. Thank you my friend for sharing your thoughts.