Interlaced

they’re criminals and rapists

he said

build the wall

he said

they’re infesting our country

he said

and some people believed him

yet

here I sit

with my

unaccompanied minor

foster child

nestled in my lap

wrapped in a blanket

watching cartoons

giggling with joy

our fingers and hearts

interlaced

like we have always

had each other

I watch

my foster boy

toddling around

diaper sticking up from his waistband

reminding me that he is

an

innocent

baby

sending smiles my direction

driving toy trucks

and making truck noises

like American baby boys do

I pray

for these babies

that are

in my care

what will their futures

contain?

I see the toddler’s chubby baby fingers

and I wonder what they will do

when he’s older

will they type papers for his PhD courses?

or play the piano in a symphony hall?

or write beautiful poems from his heart?

who will he

be allowed

to become?

I want to throw

my arms of protection

around them

like a garment

shutting out

the comments of those

who don’t want them here

in this place they came

with hopes that they will

have a better life

and future

by Jennifer Torres Alcántara