empty desks

Children see what’s happening.

They see the ICE agents patrolling their school.
Their little eyes notice the empty desks and lockers of their classmates who are no longer there.

They say they don’t understand why this is happening.

Aren’t we supposed to be kind to each other
and treat each other with respect?

How could you take someone like that?

It would feel awful to be taken, they say.

They know people deserve to be loved.
There is too much hate.
Yet fear has changed their school.

Pick-up time lasts only ten minutes.
Food supplies fill the hallways.
And some children and their parents are in hiding.

Imagine the burden of being only five, six, seven, or eight years old
and seeing masked men whisk your classmate away.

Or witnessing your parents vanish.
Or being afraid of disappearing too.

Or understanding why your friend
is no longer sitting next to you.

Why can’t we all be friends? one child asked.

We are teaching our children
that people don’t care about their friends’ well-being,
that they’d rather rip families apart
than sew them together.

Children question the lies.

Because they know this is wrong.
Because they know their friends belong.