Care by Craig Santos Perez

My 16-month old daughter wakes from her nap

and cries. I pick her up, press her against my chest

and rub her back until my palm warms

like an old family quilt. “Daddy’s here, daddy’s here,”

I whisper. Here is the island of Oʻahu, 8,500 miles

from Syria. But what if Pacific trade winds suddenly

became helicopters? Flames, nails, and shrapnel

indiscriminately barreling towards us? What if shadows

cast against our windows aren’t plumeria

tree branches, but soldiers and terrorists marching

in heat? Would we reach the desperate boats of

the Mediterranean in time? If we did, could I straighten

my legs into a mast, balanced against the pull and drift

of the current? “Daddy’s here, daddy’s here,” I

whisper. But am I strong enough to carry her across

the razor wires of sovereign borders and ethnic

hatred? Am I strong enough to plead: “please, help

us, please, just let us pass, please, we aren’t

suicide bombs.” Am I strong enough to keep walking

even after my feet crack like Halaby pepper fields after

five years of drought, after this drought of humanity.

Trains and buses rock back and forth to detention centers.

Yet what if we didn’t make landfall? What if here

capsized? Could you inflate your body into a buoy

to hold your child above rising waters? “Daddy’s

here, daddy’s here,” I whisper. Drowning is

the last lullaby of the sea. I lay my daughter

onto bed, her breath finally as calm as low tide.

To all the parents who brave the crossing: you and your

children matter. I hope your love will teach the nations

that emit the most carbon and violence that they should,

instead, remit the most compassion. I hope, soon,

the only difference between a legal refugee and

an illegal migrant will be how willing

we are to open our homes, offer refuge, and

carry each other towards the horizon of care.

About This Poem:

“This poem was written as a response to the ongoing refugee crisis and to anti-refugee sentiment that surfaced in Hawaii last year. While this poem specifically addresses refugees from Syria, it is also written in solidarity with refugees from Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific, who are being displaced by war, violence, poverty, and climate change.”

—Craig Santos Perez

(Source: Poem-a-day from poets.org)